Next Steps: • 💸 Start eliminating debt for free with EveryDollar - https://ter.li/knf775 • 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET or send us an email.
In today's digital world, you need ID theft protection that actually works.
Protect yourself at zander.com. So I'm calling because I inherited a decent amount of property
from my great-grandmother. Her son, my grandfather, passed in 2014, so it went to me,
my two siblings, my uncle, and my biological father. Oh wow, so split between five people?
Yeah, the question is, everybody's telling me I need to take this to court and fight for
ownership over certain people's pieces because some people intentionally damage the property
to lower its property value to try to make it easier to buy me out. Some people have stolen
from the estate in a total that's up to like $80,000. So everybody's like, you need to take
them to court and get their portions, that way you'll own most of it. What's it all worth?
When it sells, you can get a fair price. Well, here's the thing, they got it appraised and with
all the damage they did to the home, it appraised for $40,000, but it's a brick home in good
condition on 20 acres of property with a tractor shed, a pond, two livestock barns, all fenced in
field. All that together is worth $40,000? And a bridge going over it. Are you saying all that
together or just the home on the property is worth $40,000? They want all of that for $40,000.
Who's they? My uncle that is currently living in the home. No, no, no, I'm saying market value,
like if you took it to a buyer. He got it appraised, the house with the three acres
immediately around it is $40,000 because they damaged the home so much and they all smoke
meth, so the entire house needs to be gutted because those vapors fill in the wall.
Yeah, Maria, that's not a good spot. And they're also very aggressive towards
me because their mother, when she passed, she left me everything because she's been
no contact with them because of drugs, theft, everything else. So I got everything from her,
so they're already very aggressive. How much does this matter to you,
this $40,000 shack, meth shack? Me and my husband are in medical debt, so I'm trying to wonder if
it's worth it to fight to get a fair price to try to get us out of debt so we can move on with our
lives. How much debt did you say? In total, without our mortgage, we're about, with my
student loans. All of it, except the house is what I want to know. All of it except the house,
it's probably like $36,000. Okay, and how much do you guys make a year?
Listen, identity theft doesn't happen because you're careless. It's part of the modern world.
Even when you do everything right, criminals can steal your information and turn your life upside
down. That's why I've told people for years to have identity theft protection, and the only one
I've ever recommended is from Zander Insurance. They monitor for fraud, and if something happens,
they do the hard work to restore your identity. Go to zander.com and protect yourself today.
Okay, and how much do you guys make a year? We make right about $120,000 a year.
Okay, and how much, you said that his mom left you everything. Has she passed away?
Have you, did you get an inheritance then, too, or not yet? She's just going to leave you.
She passed. She didn't leave me any money, but she left me farmland that's in a 90, so in
Louisiana, it's a 99-year lease. I inherited that lease, so it's still valid with the people who
are with it, which is fine because that's just passive income, but also where they're at right
now, none of them are paying the taxes, so I'm having to pay all the taxes on everything, so I
don't get liens against me, and since they're living in it, it's a whole legal process to evict
them to even try to sell on the market, and they don't want to do that. I have to make a poor
decision either way. It's just a hard decision. I'm just trying to decide how hard it should be.
What's the process if you say, if you said to a judge, I want no parts of this,
and take me off? Have you checked into that? I have, and to just walk away from it
for zero dollars, I could just sign it over to them, and I almost would. Well, Maria, listen,
if it's 40,000, because I bet the house, you're right, they're going to have to gut it, or it's
going to be done. I mean, yeah, but it's also another 20 acres of land. How much is that worth?
Have you appraised that? The 20 acres that it's on, I was told by the appraiser, she didn't do
an official appraising of that, but she said for all of the property, it'd be close to $120,000
just because of location and everything, not including the house. Okay, so each of you,
when it's all said and done, just in a perfect world, if everyone sold it, and you guys cashed
out five ways, you each would get around $30,000-ish. Yes. Okay, so the question is,
and they don't have the money to buy you out. They don't have $30,000.
No. No. My bio father hasn't worked since, I think, 2014.
The other four, are they all kind of off the rails, all four of them?
Yeah, like the uncle stays on drugs. Okay, yes. Who's the executor? The executor was a family
friend who, as soon as this was done and everything, so the succession is done, he wants
nothing to do with any of this. He won't even answer because he was like, all of y'all are
nuts and I'm not dealing. Okay, so that answers my question, which is you're in this with a bunch
of just like derelicts, right? Yeah. And you have to decide how much, like there's mental energy
and just there's a lot of personal toll, emotional toll of this that you have to decide if you want
to even engage in. And if you went the litigation route, how much will attorneys be and all that,
that will cut into your 30 grand? You ready to be like, yes. So you got to just think through
from exactly what Jade's saying, from a mental investment standpoint and emotional
and a financial, at the very end of it all, what's worth it? And I wish a judge could step in
and have you gone that route at all? Have you looked into any legal proceedings?
Oh yeah, I sat down with a lawyer and spoke with a judge that she knows and my options are
sign over and walk away and then send them all a notice to say, hey, you owe me $700 in property
taxes because in this state, when you owe property taxes, one person gets a notice and they're
expected to inform the other people. Okay, so you could do that. I had to pay it so I didn't get a
loan. What was option B? They said I could walk away and just try to get what I spent in property
taxes since I covered all their share back. What's option B? Option B, I can file what's
called, I forget exactly what it's called, but it's basically a motion where you have to make
a choice. Buy me out or we sell and this is done. Yes. Just do that. Just do that. Yeah.
Push forward on that one and just see what happens. That one is expensive because they
argue it and it would be- Well, they have no money. They can't argue it. They can't hire
lawyers. They don't have any money. They can argue with you personally,
but they can't do anything legally. How much does it cost to do that right quick?
I was told to be prepared to drop at least $5,000 outright and then if they argue it,
possibly more from there. Okay, well, if you have five grand available,
which you guys are in debt, you may not, I don't know. I don't know, Jade. Part of me would just
walk away. I think I might walk away. I don't know when to hold them and when to fold them
and when to walk away. The best ID theft protection comes from Zander.
Real monitoring, full restoration, no fluff. Learn more at zander.com.
