More details to this question:
There was a verbal agreement between my father and I when he put the property (2 parcels) in my name and my 2 siblings name that I would pay the property taxes. My understanding was that I was only to pay the taxes as long as my father was alive. My father passed away 10 years ago. I had no problem at that time with the agreement since I was using all the property to raise cattle on at that time. The last 3 or 4 year I have stopped raising cattle and using all the property and would like my 2 siblings to share in the cost of the taxes to the second parcel. The second parcel is undeveloped. I have no problem with paying the taxes on the parcel that I live on. Am I obligated to continue to pay all the property taxes on the second parcel since I have been paying them for the last 30 plus years. According to my siblings lawyer he thinks I'm still responsible for as long as I live here the verbal agreement is in effect.
1 ANSWER
If your siblings are not receiving any benefits from either parcel, I'm not confident you will be able to persuade them to share in paying the taxes. If you rented the parcels and shared the rents with them, maybe. If they were using some part of the property for weekends, maybe.
If you don't want to pay the taxes as long as they own shares, and they don't want to pay the taxes, then maybe either you should buy them out or all of you should sell the properties. I'm not a fan of selling California real estate. Everyone wants to move here, so prices keep going up. If you decide to pursue either of these choices, I could help you negotiate an agreement with your siblings, so that you can raise the money to buy them out and know that they will sell to you, or so that you can hire a broker and sign a contract to sell the propety andknow that they will sell.
If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business.
Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need.
Dana Sack
Answered on Dec 06th, 2017 at 10:38 AM