My brother is the only person listed on the house after my mother passed last year. I live here and pay all house expenses, utilities, taxes and insurance. He recently filed for bankruptcy and now they say I have to pay rent also. If I decide to move and we sell the house... will all the money go towards the bankruptcy or am I entitled to half the sale because there was no will.

By listed I am assuming that your brother is on the Deed. If so, this is HIS house and the proceeds will be used toward HIS bankruptcy.

You are a tenant, the same as if you and your brother were not related.

Ownership in this case is controlled by Deed. The lack of a Will makes no difference where the house is concerned.

Judy,
I do not think this is necessarily true. It depends on how the house was held--tenants in common versus joint tenancy. It's possible that the daughter inherits half of her mother's half of the house--that is, a quarter of its value.

Also, Mao58, who has been paying the mortgage?
If there was no mortgage and you have been paying all the real estate taxes, you may have some rights.

I would consult an attorney as soon as possible. It is worth a couple of hundred dollars to find out the answers to your questions.

Also, are you inheriting anything else from your mother that would compensate for the value of the house?
Do you have any reason to think your mother intended to disinherit you?

The answer will depend on exactly what the deed says and the inheritance laws where you live.

I recommend this discussion at Wikipedia to get you started.

Concurrent estate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent_estate#Tenancy_in_common)

I assumed that the brother being the only other person on the Deed meant they were, for the sake of simplicity, co-owners with no survivors rights. I don't see paying taxes creating ownership but, yes, if we knew what State is involved as well as how the property was held it will make it easier to answer correctly.

If the Deed was in some joint fashion the OP was not disinherited. You can only disinherit by leaving someone out of a Will. Holding joint property with one person and not two is not disinheriting the second party.

It's my feeling that if "they" say the OP has to pay rent the brother is, in fact, the owner of the house. But let's see what OP says.

Judy,
I do not think this is necessarily true. It depends on how the house was held--tenants in common versus joint tenancy. It's possible that the daughter inherits half of her mother's half of the house--that is, a quarter of its value.
...

What part of the word "only" don't you understand?



My brother is the only person listed on the house ...

I grant you that the OP may be making the erroneous assumption that, after the mother died, the brother became the "only" person holding title. It remains to be seen when OP returns to this thread.

Hi AK lawyer,

Or brother may have just said that he would be the only person listed once probate was settled.

Also wondering who "they" is. A bank? Brother and his wife?

...
Also wondering who "they" is. A bank? Brother and his wife?

Or brother's bankruptcy trustee?

I vote that "they" is the bankruptcy trustee.

I also do not find Wikipedia to be necessarily up to date. Need the OP to come back.