QUESTION
Why does the estate attorney seem like he is not standing behind me on a home selling issue?
Asked on Mar 19th, 2013 on Real Estate - New York
More details to this question:
As an estate administrator, I am selling a relative's home to settle the estate. The contract was drawn up and signed. I had the property appraised by a reputable business. Now the buyer has decided he only wants to pay 70% of that price. This is a cash deal and not going through a lending agency. Anxious to get this settled, I asked the estate attorney if that was a good idea to accept the lower offer and if there would be any legal trouble for me down the road if I agreed to sell for the reduced price. He said that as the fiduciary of the estate, he could not advise me on that since it was up to me to make that decision whether to sell for less or not. In addition, if there were issues in the future resultant from doing this, he could not help me. Is this normal legal practice in the U.S.?
1 ANSWER
1 Award
Here is the deal. You are selling for below market value, based on your appraisal. As a fiduciary, you have personal liability for failing to exercise business judgment, like selling for market value. Since you have no broker or multiple listing, there is no check on the market value. Accordingly, that is the risk. To cover yourself, you need to paper why you are taking a lower price, or get a pre-approval from the beneficiaries. The attorney should help you here. I am not sure why he is scared of this. This is not normal, and this is why you have an attorney -- to navigate these kinds of pitfalls, which happen all the time.
Answered on Mar 24th, 2013 at 9:07 AM