What is the best way for us to do with our mother's life estate?

You will have to file a partition lawsuit in the state court.

If I understand you correctly, you and your siblings jointly own the house. If that is the case, you can force a sale of the house by going to court and filing a partition action. The judge would order the house to be sold and the money distributed.

I hope you mean that the siblings are the "remaindermen" who took title upon your mother's death. Anyway, this is not unusual when you have named 7 cooks to cook the stew. Contact a real estate attorney about a partition action to force the sale of the premises and presumably each will get 14.28% of the net proceeds.

What is the extra $5k for? If taxes are not being paid, then the house will eventually be lost. Is the $5k to reimburse them for paying expenses? If the house is now in all 7 names, you could seek court action to force a partition action. The judge could order the house sold or have some of the other beneficiaries buy you out.

Obtain yourself probate litigation counsel to file a petition to partition the property and force a sale, and upon close of escrow at which the proceeds will be divided according to the title held by the persons involved and any court order, do not pay any money to the other relatives.

As described by you, you and your siblings are owners of the property. If you can't agree to a resolution, your alternative is to sell your interest (although who would want to buy it?) or court where a judge will decide the issue (a majority of siblings would likely influence the judge's decision)

The two should not get any extra money. Is the estate still in probate? If so, you can petition the court to sell the home. The mortgage, insurance, taxes, and maintenance is paid by the estate.

Somebody needs to file a civil case asking for the judge to force a sale of the property and for the money to be divided appropriately.

A life estate is ownership of property that is only limited to your lifetime. Once someone passes, the life estate ends, and the person named as the eventual owner gets the property. Your description does not sound like a life estate, but sounds more like a Joint tenancy or a tenancy in common. You will probably need to take your title to an attorney just to verify what ownership you have. If you and your siblings are all shared owners, you can negotiate with your siblings for the sale of the home to one sibling or to a third party. If some of the other siblings refuse to cooperate or negotiate fairly, you can go to court and request that the home be divided, forcing a sale and equal division of the profits of the sale. This will be difficult to do on your own, and you may not come out ahead after the costs of litigation. If you want to avoid this problem for your own children, it is best to put the home in a trust that names a trustee who will have the duty and authority to sell the home and distribute the property according to the terms of the trust. If the trustee fails to perform their duty, the heirs can go to court and have them removed and replaced. If successful, the attorney fees would be paid out of the trust.

You can petition the probate court to force the sale of the house or the ones who refuse to sign off can buy out the other siblings' share of the property. If the taxes aren't being paid timely, the city or county can put the house up for sale for taxes and then none of you will get anything.