So, my great aunt died on June 12th--a day after my wedding. She had been in ill health for a while, so it wasn't suprising. This past weekend, at my grandmother's funeral, my aunt starts talking over dinner. She's the executor (executrix) of the estate of my great aunt, and besides some monetary awards here and there my other three cousins and I now own her home in Lewiston, NY. My aunt gets all the items within the house. The remaining aunts, uncles, and my folks get monetary awards around 1-2k that comes from the proceeds of the sale of the home. We are going to sell the house--the other three cousins are in college (two undergrad, one med school) and I live in another state. So it's in probate now--no one is expected to contest the will. Follow the tale as it goes on (and I'm sure, on and on and on)...
This looks pretty straightforward. One thing I would do is make sure all taxes are paid in your grandmother's name on the house and the sale of the house before splitting the money 4 ways. You don't want to get the money, spend it, and then face some tax bill. If you have a competent attorney advising the executrix, you should be fine. Sachin
these things can be a nightmare. I went thru hell when my mother in law died....one of my sister in laws owned 49% of her house,,,she had to buy the other 3 sisters out or sell the house and give the sisters the money from the sale,,,it was a mess,,,the contract she signed with her mom stated that she would give her mom a place to stay for life,,,that lasted about 6 months when mom in law moved out because she hated the sis in laws hubby....she ended up paying the estated 48 thousand, she owed 70,,,her lawyer said they will hold it up in probate for ever, take the 48 or face court battles...wife and sisters took the money...then my other sis in law was the executrix and her hubby got his nose in the wrong place and said my wife and I owed 1700 to the estate and they would take it out of her share...my wife was sole benifiary of the life insurance policy,,,a whopping 6k she also got the car and we sold it for 3k....we put 9k into the estate because my wife did not want to get more then her two other sisters, the other sis got the house....so this guy had the balls to say we owed the estate 1700 after my wife decided to split the 9k she got on the side....I told to shove it and I will be taking back the 3k that his wife would be getting,,,,he said ok you don't have to pay......these things can get really messy when money is involved,,,be careful