Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Hi -- You and the others need to have some specific legal counseling. Co-ownership can be difficult in California. Sometimes you have a co-tenancy (tenancy in common) or a joint tenancy -- or some other situation -- so you need some legal counseling as to whether the existing situation is best for you or what alternatives will help you. Check with your local bar association, because they often have a Lawyers Referral and Information Service (LRIS) program that for a modest fee will get you a half hour with an attorney.

Best wishes,

Jim Arnold

The Arnold Law Practice

San Francisco, CA 94104

Lafayette, CA 94549

T: 415-439-8831

[email protected]

I agree that this is not a situation where you want to "wing it" on bulletin-board advice or gut instinct. The stakes are too high and the likelihood of a dispute down the road is too great to take a chance on saving a small legal fee.

Giving a sibling a limited power of attorney to manage an inherited interest can occasionally be an appropriate solution, but is by no means the only, nor always the best, way to assign management responsibility to the chosen sibling.

Most important, you need to plan for an eventual winding up of the co-ownership that has been created. This may happen sooner, or later, but at some point, one or another co-owner or the co-owner's spouse or the co-owner's heir will want the co-ownership to end. Planning for that eventuality now, while you're all relatively young and relatively cooperative, is advised. Often that will involve negotiating a written agreement setting forth everyone's rights, duties, expectations and so forth, and outlining an exit strategy.