Rephrasing a question from earlier regards rent on a property acquired through inheritance?

Question

to add more info to those who may answer the question again - have been living in the house and paying all bills and taxes and general decoration and maintanence while the executor is sorting the estate.the estate has taken longer than expected to finanlise all the monies so the question of rent was raised. i thought this was possibly greedy but now understand otherwise. suggestions please, this is a very awkward situation?!?

Answer 1

More re-phrasing may be needed. All the house's expenses should be under the control of the executor and paid by him. That's his job. His job is to divide the estate according to the instructions of the deceased. It's not to milk the estate for himself.

Unless the deceased created a complex set of instructions that were not clear to all the beneficiaries, settling-up the estate should be a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am affair.

If I were the executor, I would be paying the taxes and maintenance on your house and charging you market-level rent that went into the estate pool.

Since there is real estate involved, I would have it appraised and offer you a buy-out, if all the parties agreed. I would liquidate the estate in a timely fashion and divvy-up the money.

Answer 2

Understanding this situation. (1) Until the executor has finished the finalize of the will with the monies, it still has to be by what the will states. (2) It can be when the finalizeing get's done all that you have done can be subtracted of all you was out and be repayed, or taken off as rent for you living there. Until all is finalized, she is still entitled to the rent owed by the will that was made. The will cannot be broken and must be gone by for it was the wish of who made it before passing. I still advise you to seek an attorney for your behalf in this matter.

Answer 3

It is absolutely reasonable and right that you should be paying rent for living in a property that is not yours (or not yet, anyway).  If you were living rent-free before, that was simply a gift from your father.  I suggest you discuss the matter with the executor, and seek to agree a rate for the rent until the estate is disposed of.  I suggest you negotiate a rent figure based on the rent level for the kind of accommodation you would alternatively seek, eg if you would rent a smaller property for yourself at a lower rent, you should offer that.  The executor will probably find any reasonable offer from you acceptable, on behalf of the heirs collectively, because renting out the house at a market rate to someone else may not be possible in the circumstances. Costs that you have met - such as maintenance - that would normally be met by the owner rather than the tenant should of course be offset against your rent.  Bear in mind that your rent will be going into the estate, and that you (presumably) will benefit from the resulting increase in the value of the estate.

Answer 4

The definition of "all bills" is too broad.

You should not be paying the property tax, that should be paid via estate funds, no heir, regardless of living situation should be paying them.

You are essentially a renter, who is refusing to pay rent, but legally a renter none the less.   You pay for your own decorations and bills (power, water, sewer, etc).     Assuming that house needs to be sold the estate should want to handle maintenance, as renter neglect will make the house harder to sell.

Are you asking what is a fair rent?    If you were my relative, living in an estate property that I had rights to I would take fair market rent, then half it because you will be maintaining the property better then any renter and will be helping to sell the property.   Your rent then would go into the estate funds to be divided appropriately, in which you would still obtain your fair share of it as an inheritance after the probate has finalized.

This would be fair to all heirs and cause no one a hardship.

Answer 5

You should not be paying any of the estate's bills, taxes, or home maintainence.  The estate should be paying those bills.  To make the situation less awkward and more viable legally, it would perhaps be better for you to pay rent to the executor and have the exectutor pay the bills, taxes, maintainence, etc.  That is how it should be done, especially if there may be a question of inheritance taxes.