Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The matter of a estate and or revocable living trust I would like to know.....

When the will leaves everything to the daughters of the deceased and names one daughter to be executor, when making decisions regarding the shared property, do all three need to be agreed? I'm living in my late grandmas place, have been since before she died. My auntie is one of 3 owners of it now and is also the executor of the will and she hated me for years. She is trying to evict me, but can she act alone or do the other 2 owners also need to file? I have proof of my residency and since she is lying to the courts objecting that fact she has served me with eviction papers. So what are my rights? Does she need the other owners or if she can evict me for mean selfish reasons is she required to pay me a relocation fee. I will be homeless if the eviction is allowed with only part of the owners filing.


Asked on 3/11/16, 8:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

It depends on whether the probate has been completed and title transferred out of the estate to the three owners, or if it is still in your grandma's name, or the name of a trust that your auntie is trustee of. A trustee of a trust, and an executor of an estate, can act without any input, much less consent, from the beneficiaries of the trust or the heirs of the estate. The beneficiaries or heirs can only object if the trustee or executor is committing waste or damage to the property, or taking money or property for themselves other than what is allowed in the trust document or will.

Once property is deeded out of the trust or estate to the intended recipients, however, all the owners must act to evict a tenant. Technically any one owner can evict, but then any one other owner has the legal right to immediately allow the resident to live there again. This is because of a weird feature of the law that says that each co-owner has all the legal rights of a solo owner. The real effect, though, is that they must all act together since any one can undo what any other one does.

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Answered on 3/11/16, 8:37 am


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