You absolutely can require that your home be sold and the proceeds divided equally between your sons. But you need to appoint someone to do that. Someone needs to have the legal ability to represent your estate in the sale, sign the contract with the broker, sign the deed of sale, etc. You could name both sons to serve as co-executors, or a third party, who would have the ability to be paid for their time and expenses. Naming an attorney is not an ethical violation in most cases, but it will cost you more money.
There is always the possibility that your sons will disagree - on the listing price, the timeline, whether to include appliances in the sale. While there is no way to prevent all disputes, you can provide a mechanism for solving them. For example, you can require that the house be listed within 120 days of your death for a price to be determined by the average recommendation of two licensed brokers. You can require that the broker's recommendation will prevail on issues upon which your sons cannot agree. You can name a broker or provide for how one can be chosen. You may want to state that the house can be rented after your death, including by your sons, upon terms to which they both agree or otherwise at a rent to be determined by the broker and subject to that broker's standard lease. There will be a period of time after you die when the house will sit empty but cannot yet be sold, because there is no executor yet or because sale takes time, and one relative living in a house without paying rent is a common source of conflict. You also can add a provision in your Will that anyone who challenges your Will and does not prevail will lose their ability to inherit anything under the Will, called a no contest clause.
One final, legal note: a beneficiary has the legal ability to challenge how a Will is being administered, and an executor has a legal duty to follow the terms of the Will. Executors can be removed if they are negligent or ignore their duties, or can be ordered by the court to perform certain duties by a certain date or with court supervision. One final, practical note: talk to your sons about your concerns and tell them your plans to prevent conflict in the hopes that they will work together once you are gone. Good luck.
Answered on Mar 09th, 2017 at 10:33 AM