Ask A Lawyer: How Do I Stop the Sale of Our House?

Question:

When my mother and father separated, my father was court ordered to continue making payments on the house. He did not make payments and my mother was forced to take a loan out to pay off the house. She died before the divorce was final and now my father wants to sell the house.

The deed was in both names, which I found out the hard way that the deed overrides her will. The thing is that he stopped making payments on the house against court orders and she paid off the house.

 What action can I take to stop him from selling the house or be awarded 50 percent of the house as per her will or 50 percent of the selling price of the home?

 

Answer:

The estate should file a claim against father for the payments and temporary restraining order/injunction regarding the sale of the house.  The distribution of the house/equity in the house is a Wills and Trusts matter and you should consult a probate attorney.  Note in many jurisdictions there is a short timeframe for the estate to make a claim. 

 

Spencer E. Williams is the Team Leader over St Louis, St Charles, Indianapolis and Arnold (Jefferson County, MO) offices of Cordell & Cordell, P.C. where he practices exclusively in the area of domestic relations. Mr. Williams has tried numerous cases dealing with complex custody issues, maintenance, business assets and personal asset division. 

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2 comments on “Ask A Lawyer: How Do I Stop the Sale of Our House?

    My son is legally divorced. His ex got everything because she hid the Hearing letter from him. He was in default according to the judge. He filed a Change of Order and lost. The case is presently awaiting an Appeal. The ex is in the process of selling the house and moving. He was told, by his Attorney, that he’d have to pay 110% of house value to get the sale stopped. Since this divorce case is awaiting appeal, isn’t there something he can do?!

    my mom is 92 yrs old and my brother who had recently passed away (that I did not get along with) – had lived w\my mom in house attained through sale of her house in 2007 she had been manipulated to agree for him to manage her finances and such through POA . Now that he has passed sister in law wants to put my mom in nursing home ; which we advised her that we would take her in w/us instead . Needless to say she had been bamboozeled all along & has very little left a few thousand $….. sister in law intends on selling house / not including my Mom in any return of which she invested in Intrest includes bulk downpayment on house ,paying the taxes & mortgage payment AND not included on the deed ! Can we stop sale of house by an injunction on sale of house ; As this is probably only way to get the sister in law to include her(my Mom) in some type of settlement agreement to give her back some of her investment. its disgusting on what they have done all along stealing All of her money under pretense of taking care of her ! They are narcissistic blood sucking leeches out for their own self greed . Can I file an injuction on sale of house or do I need attorney , as I am at my wits end of how this could happen to someone so trusting ;;; & now to be tossed aside w/ no recourse to her funds it seems ! Also same attorney was representing my Mom as well as my sister in law; isn’t that a conflict of intrest ? and does that make any prior agreements null & void as a result of that . I hope you can help guide me the right way to force these low lifes to give her SOMETHING back @ sale of house closing. Over the course of 10 plus years they have stolen probobly over $800,00 or more ????!!!!

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