Many people inherit real estate and other assets with siblings or other people. Co-owners of real estate have access to all of the property, unless the co-owners have an agreement for another arrangement. If one co-owner doesn’t want to co-own the property, a partition lawsuit can be initiated.
Many people inherit real estate or other assets along with siblings or other people. For instance, a parent may leave his or her house to that parent’s three adult children. When the parent dies, regardless of whether the property ownership transfers through a trust, via a recorded affidavit or is administered through probate, the three siblings will find themselves co-owners.
Co-owners of real estate are treated as having access to all of the property, unless all of the co-owners agree otherwise. Any co-owner, including a co-owner with only a 1% ownership interest in the property, can sign a lease that binds all other co-owners to that lease. Of course, the lease must be commercially reasonable, and the net rent proceeds from the lease must be shared proportional to ownership.
Read more about property co-ownership in Lee’s article in the Lima News here: Legal-Ease: Breaking up can be hard to do
Source: LimaOhio.com, “Legal-Ease: Breaking up can be hard to do,” by Lee R. Schroeder, October 5, 2019
Lee R. Schroeder is an Ohio licensed attorney at Schroeder Law LLC in Putnam County. He limits his practice to business, real estate, estate planning and agriculture issues in northwest Ohio. He can be reached at Lee@LeeSchroeder.com or at 419-659-2058. This article is not intended to serve as legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from the licensed attorney of your choice based upon the specific facts and circumstances that you face.