So my wife became the trustee for her late mother’s estate, which included her home. It was decided that the home would be sold and distribute the proceeds to the inheritors.
As an aside, my wife had to sue the occupant of the house to vacate. This is two years after having found out there was a trust and my wife was named as trustee. Her late mother’s girlfriend/widow (only married her for 2 weeks before she passed due to brain cancer) hid the trust documents. We only were made aware by my accidently finding out about the trust online through tax records.
After the home was finally vacated and my wife was named on the title, she found the home to be in disrepair. Soon after, apparently my wife’s sister’s husband took it upon himself, without consulting my wife the trustee, to begin repairs (new carpets, vinyl tile flooring, some sub-floor repair, baseboards, paint, and a few lighting fixtures). Their justification was to made it more sellable and appealing.
The sister approached my wife today, asking to be paid $5,000 for her husband’s efforts, even claiming that what he did was worth $20,000. My wife was taken back, not knowing how to respond at that blindsided moment.
Under basically a handshake agreement between my wife and her sister, the only two heirs, the proceeds of the house would be split 50/50.
What the brother in law is doing is what house flippers do, right? You get a house, fix it up, and only get paid when you sell the house. You don’t get paid for your efforts, you get paid for the result. Sweat equity, basically.
What to do?
Location: utah
Comments
This may be a case of what the legal answer is may not be the best thing to do.
Are you legally obligated to pay him more? Probably not, if you never asked him to do the work and he did it without asking.
At the end of the day, did he do you a solid? Is the house going to fetch significantly more than he’s asking for when you sell it? Depending upon where the house is and what was done and how bad it was before he fixed it, that $5,000 could bring in far more than the $20,000 speculated.
How big of an estate is this that your wife is expected to get? How much is the house expected to bring in?
Legally, no obligation to pay, but decide — and the proceeds from the estate that your wife and her sister are splitting are certainly a factor here — whether you want to go to war over this.
I mean, if he did good work that helps the house to sell, then I think 5K is reasonable. Although clearly they should have discussed it ahead of time.
You’re going to have to decide if the relationship with sister and her husband is worth $5k. You can have one or the other.