AITA For not splitting ownership of my dad’s house I inherited with my brother?

A Redditor recently faced a dilemma after inheriting his late father’s house entirely due to being added as a co-owner decades ago. Upon informing his brother about the reassessment of property taxes, his brother suggested splitting the ownership.

However, the Redditor hesitated, citing concerns about his brother’s wife wanting to sell the house and the potential impact on his daughter, the only grandchild. Despite their current agreement to share rental income and expenses, the Redditor is reluctant to give his brother a 50% stake, prioritizing his daughter’s future inheritance. Read more about his situation below.

‘ AITA For not splitting ownership of my dad’s house I inherited with my brother?’

My dad passed away last year and I ended up inheriting 100 percent of his house because around 35 years ago, I was added as a co-owner to his house when he refinanced it and since he died without a will, I ended up inheriting 100% of the house.

When I told my brother that the property tax was reassessed at market value for the house, he told me that I should just split it with him since the property tax would remain the same.

I refused to split it with him because his wife had made comments about selling the house and if I split ownership with him, there would be no guarantee that his share would go to my daughter, who was my dad’s only grandchild since my brother doesn’t have any kids.

My dad said he wanted to give his share to my brother to make it even but he also had said multiple times that he wants the house to eventually go to my daughter because he understood how expensive houses have become.

Additionally, I asked my brother if he would will his share of our dad’s house to my daughter but he wouldn’t give me a straight answer. So, I refused to give him half of the house because I want to be sure it goes to my daughter in the future.

Currently, the house is a rental and my brother and I are splitting both income and expenses but he wants me to officially give him half the house.
AITA for refusing to give him 50% of my dad’s house?

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

ParagonOfAdequacy −  I’m confused here; why is your brother involved with rent and expenses at all?

Brother-Cane −  NTA Don’t split the house. Divvy up the rest of your father’s estate as equitably as possible and stop sharing the rental income with him. A smart lawyer will use that as a means to claim that you know he is e**itled to half of the property

GopherDog22 −  NAH. I don’t know where you live but there’s likely a way for you to set it up where you can transfer ownership to your brother while ensuring your daughter/any future grandkids inherit upon both of your deaths. This really will depend on the value of the property, where you live, etc.

I’m not an expert in this area, but the best structure might be putting something like putting the home in a trust. From your brother’s perspective, he’s getting a bit screwed based on your father’s messed up estate planning. If your father had wanted you both to have the house, he should have done so rather than relying upon his kid to do the right thing.

Having-hope3594 −  NAH. But your father should’ve had talk with your brother and things out legally ahead of time

FragrantImposter −  What, exactly, would your brother get out of ownership? If you gave him half ownership, he’d have it listed as an asset, which may help him for his credit and such, but it would also mean that if he defaults on a loan or some such, that asset would be sacrificed to cover it.

If your father’s goal was to keep it for your daughter, then losing the asset is counterproductive. Having ownership would give him a share of the profits of it was sold, but again, if your father meant for it to be saved for your daughter, then there’s no sale or profit in the works.

If he has half ownership, then he’d have to be contributing to the maintenance, repairs, and taxes as well. Right now, he’s already receiving half the passive income from the rentals without being responsible for any of the liabilities.

He may want ownership to make sure that you don’t change your mind and cut him off, but that can be settled without the ownership change. Unless he’s willing to sign something agreeing to not force a sale, and to pass the house down to your daughter, then you have no ability to stop him from selling if he wishes.

I, personally, would be fine with him getting income from the house as is, as well as giving him parts of the profits in the future if your daughter wants to sell. That would be appropriate as his part of the inheritance, providing that he can’t use that as a way to find a legal loophole. Given that he refuses to answer you regarding his plans for the property regarding your daughter or selling, adding him to the deed is very risky.

You can continue to give him an equal share of the profits from the property without adding him, and while it sucks for him to be dependant on your favor for that, it also sucks that you can’t depend on him to abide by your dad’s wishes regarding your daughter. So it’s a stalemate.

SilverCats −  YTA. Sounds like you got the full ownership of the house on the technicality. I don’t know if you are legally in the clear but you are still screwing your brother out of the house.

genericalt8675309 −  YTA: You said your dad intended to give your brother 50% of the home, you would be TA if you didn’t honor that, regardless of the will.
Also, have you consulted an attorney about this situation?

Just because you were joint owners of the property with your father, that doesn’t mean you automatically get ownership of the whole property. Your father’s portion of the ownership could be transferred to his estate, which means your brother could legally have an argument for owning a portion of it.

ETA: this is a rental, he is getting half the income and contributing half the expenses? It seems to me like you already consider him a 50% owner, but don’t want to make it official in case he makes a decision you don’t like.

WeirdnessWalking −  YTA Your father explicitly stated he wanted his share to goto your brother. Nothing else needs to be known.

pokederp56 −  YTA. Your father died without a will yet made his wishes known that he wanted his wealth to be split among both of his kids. If he had no other assets then that makes the house you and your brother’s sole inheritance from him.

Since you are both paying expenses on the house then it makes no sense that your dad’s sole asset goes to you only. If you want to keep the house for yourself then the right thing to do is buy your brother out of his prospective share. Your dad clearly wanted to leave your brother something which you are not following through with.

Infinite_Singer5750 −  I believe in a situation like this, if you don’t want to sell, you have to buy your brother out. There was no Will so the next of kin are you and your brother (50/50). If you want your daughter to have the house, give it to her after you buy it from your brother or leave it to her in your will. Nothing your dad said matters, he didn’t have a will.

Is the Redditor justified in his decision to keep full ownership of the house for his daughter’s future, or should he have considered splitting it with his brother? What would you do in a similar situation? Share your thoughts below!