Sue vs. Forced sale after 8yr neglect bye co owner.

[donluciano]

What is the name of your state? California

My story is ugly.
My sister and myself were left a 3bedroom house in 1998' from my deceased grandmother. Our father managed the house until his in 2000' at which time his mistress was squatting on the property , (no lease/not paying rent).
My sister took the role of executor of the estates of my late fathe & grandmother. My sister paid the taxes/utilities and the gardner even while the squatter was still in the house refusing to leave. My sister refuse to throw her out, and it took me until 2002 to get rid of the illegal tenant.
My sister still did nothing to get the house's dilapidated condition upgraded. So being proactive and being %50 owner, i screened qualified renters and moved in one without her consent. I then notified her, gave the tenent a month to month for 6 months %50 until my sister signs her half of the lease.
My tenent has paid up 3 months , but ive yet to give my sister the check.

1. I dont want to give her the check(rent) unless she signs the lease.
2.She's hired a lawyer to talk with me @ $400 hourly, but has yet to purchase my fathers headstone for his grave (my dad died in 2000).
3. She may want to force a sale, but i want to force her to keep it for 3-4 years.
4.can i sue for back rent that she may have been responsible in collecting from the squatter but never did?
5.is there any aggressive action i can take, to turn the table in my favor legally.

 

[Meursault]

The ONLY table that has any hope of turning is probate. Has the house and the rest of granny's estate ever gone through probate?

 

[nextwife]

If the home has deferred maintenance, perhaps the rents should be used toward maintaining the jointly owned property to get it back to proper condition. This way, YOU are not taking the money from her, the co-owner, as it is going back in to the jointly held asset. DO talk to an attorney who is more familiar with the ownership and probate history, etc.

 

[donluciano]

got it.. talk to a lawyer.

Thats exactly what i did, put in a tenent who fixed/ and paid.
the problem is, the back rent that was lost over 8 years.
Im probably out on that, but if i sell the house, rather than in 3-5 years i could loose $500,000 instead of the $80k+ that ive lost already.
I hate court, and i know the end of it will be "partition/ sell/ split the proceeds"
this is the most inevitible. But how can i manipulate this process more in my favor outside of the Renting tenent!

What can i sue for? Neglect.
Fraud that i didnt get my cutt?
Devastavit.

 

[HomeGuru]

Read the response from nextwife.