Money Matters
TarponMonoxide
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Problem with sibling who will not pay what he owes
I have a thread running on the FM board.
To recap, I own a home with a sibling. The home is paid for there is no mortage. The taxes are about 6K a year; the house is a 2 family dwelling, I have one floor, he has the other.
He works retail, I have a very fixed income. I do not make a lot of money and I don't have a fortune in savings.
For quite awhile now -- he has refused to pay his share of the taxes, the homeowners insurance and the water. He tell me he has no money.
He has a side business where he teaches tennis; he cannot and will not earmark any of that money for taxes -- he has no lack of students. He has so many he needs to turn them away.
He has consistently said "I have no money" for a very long time --- more than a couple of years.
It is I who is paying for the full ride on this home. (and I'm a real fool for permitting this to go on for more than one quarter....yeah, but how do I stop him from doing this, if I can't buy him out or he can't buy me out or we won't sell the home?)
I talk to him about it and it turns into an argument. The "talk" I had with him on Sunday was not only futile but pretty bad; I got a pretty good cussing out and of course,he still refused to pay up.
I am having my savings drained because of Bro.
I cannot afford to buy him out. It's not possible.
He cannot buy me out. he is in debt up to his eyeballs and he just got done having his salary garnished for the last 5 or 6 years.
Selling the house is not an option. Very long story.
I am going to take him to court and sue him for what he owes me. He has a lump of money that is coming, from another source; i can put a lien on that and get the amount of money he owes.
I also want to see if I can seize his ownership of the house --- getting the money is one thing -- he will only do it all over again, refuse to pay his share. I cannot let this go on; this is already turning into a nightmare. I can't take any more of this. He cannot own this home any longer.
There has to be another way to seize the ownership of his share of the home. I have a call in to my attorney; I will get the name of a pretty good real estate attorney and I'll take it from there.
To recap, I own a home with a sibling. The home is paid for there is no mortage. The taxes are about 6K a year; the house is a 2 family dwelling, I have one floor, he has the other.
He works retail, I have a very fixed income. I do not make a lot of money and I don't have a fortune in savings.
For quite awhile now -- he has refused to pay his share of the taxes, the homeowners insurance and the water. He tell me he has no money.
He has a side business where he teaches tennis; he cannot and will not earmark any of that money for taxes -- he has no lack of students. He has so many he needs to turn them away.
He has consistently said "I have no money" for a very long time --- more than a couple of years.
It is I who is paying for the full ride on this home. (and I'm a real fool for permitting this to go on for more than one quarter....yeah, but how do I stop him from doing this, if I can't buy him out or he can't buy me out or we won't sell the home?)
I talk to him about it and it turns into an argument. The "talk" I had with him on Sunday was not only futile but pretty bad; I got a pretty good cussing out and of course,he still refused to pay up.
I am having my savings drained because of Bro.
I cannot afford to buy him out. It's not possible.
He cannot buy me out. he is in debt up to his eyeballs and he just got done having his salary garnished for the last 5 or 6 years.
Selling the house is not an option. Very long story.
I am going to take him to court and sue him for what he owes me. He has a lump of money that is coming, from another source; i can put a lien on that and get the amount of money he owes.
I also want to see if I can seize his ownership of the house --- getting the money is one thing -- he will only do it all over again, refuse to pay his share. I cannot let this go on; this is already turning into a nightmare. I can't take any more of this. He cannot own this home any longer.
There has to be another way to seize the ownership of his share of the home. I have a call in to my attorney; I will get the name of a pretty good real estate attorney and I'll take it from there.
Re: Problem with sibling who will not pay what he owes
On the water bill - Have you checked with the water company to see if there is any way to have two seperate water meters for the home? I'm sure there would be an expense associated with it but then if he doesn't pay his water bill, it's him who suffers & not you. On the plus side, if you ever buy him out or you sell the home, having seperate water meters may be a plus for someone who is interested in renting one of the units.
In regards to the taxes, contact your local auditors office and explain the situation. See if there is anyway that they are able to split the tax bills. I know it's a long shot, but you are in no worse situation then you are now if they say no.
Is buying him out an option? Then you can develop a leasing contract with him and like any tenant, if he breaks the lease agreement, you can evict him. You can always just charge him rent for what it will cost you to buy him out. But worse case he moves out & you find someone else to rent to.
Several years ago, when he was having big problems with creditors --- his car got repossesed and he was claiming he had no money to pay anybody anything --- I suggested that he move out and rent his place to somebody while he took up residence in a studio apartment or even rented a room. You know, to get back on his financial feet.
To this he said "I won't and can't do that. This is my home and I am not going anywhere."
If I bought him out -- and I cannot afford to --- he'd be out of here completely and I'd get a tenant up there. No way would he be upstairs and renting from me.
I made a second call to my attorney --- he is in court and hasn't gotten a chance to call me back yet.
You will also spend at least 2x whatever you will get back from liens on an attorney, I promise. They bill at $250 an hour not a month. They bill while you are sitting around the courthouse ready for your case to be called. They bill when they spend 8 minutes typing you an email.
Property is sooooo tricky when it is jointly owned. You cannot seize property from the other owner regardless of what an @ss they are, you can sell or refinance and get their name off the deed. Either will not be dream situations but that's the way it is.
The best you can do is list for sale and hope someone comes up with an amazing offer to entice you both. Or you can move a roommate in to offset the costs and hopefully make his life more difficult. $6k a year is $500 a month, even charging someone a few hundred would be worth it if your income is that fixed
You will also spend at least 2x whatever you will get back from liens on an attorney, I promise. They bill at $250 an hour not a month. They bill while you are sitting around the courthouse ready for your case to be called. They bill when they spend 8 minutes typing you an email.
Property is sooooo tricky when it is jointly owned. You cannot seize property from the other owner regardless of what an @ss they are, you can sell or refinance and get their name off the deed. Either will not be dream situations but that's the way it is.
The best you can do is list for sale and hope someone comes up with an amazing offer to entice you both. Or you can move a roommate in to offset the costs and hopefully make his life more difficult. $6k a year is $500 a month, even charging someone a few hundred would be worth it if your income is that fixed
Well intended but it's only wise and the right thing to do; wot written agreement? You own half, you pay half!
And he will be paying legal expenses --- he has a good sized chunk of money due to him soon; I will get that frozen and all expenses will come out of that. So will the money he owes me.
And even so, a written agreement would mean nothing: he still violated it, if there even was one.
He is getting away with this because he can. He knows damn well he can get a part time job on his days off or teach tennis and pay for it that way: he doesn't want to.
I'm sorry to say this, because I know he's your brother despite all this...but WHAT A LOSER!!! I mean seriously? He works full-time plus has a lucrative part-time job but can't come up with $250/month to cover his half of the house expenses? How many of us would give our eye-teeth to pay only $250/month for a place to live? Does he have a drugs, drinking, or gambling problem? I just don't understand where his money is going.
He is in debt up to his eyes -- maybe he will even settle for me buying out his debt in exchange for his part of the property.