When a person passes away and leaves real property, a house, to more than one beneficiary, it sometimes leads to a discussion about whether or not one of the beneficiaries can purchase or buy out the other beneficiaries?
The answer is it depends. First an appraisal needs to be done of the real estate. This is an appraisal completed by a certified real estate appraisal, in order to assess the fair market value of the real estate upon the date of death of the person who just passed. If all of the beneficiaries are in agreement to the buy out then it can de done. Also if the person creating the trust, and who has now passed away, put a provision in the trust giving that person the right of first refusal then they can purchase the property from the trust.
What happens if the beneficiaries of the trust can not agree to the sale of the property to a specified individual?
The Trustee can sell the property and then divide the proceeds amongst the beneficiaries.
Things can get complicated when beneficiaries do not get along or have conflicting views on how property should be dealt with. The Trustee is the one with the legal authority to divide up the trust assets according to the terms written out in the trust document itself, and has to abide by that in a prudent manner to best serve the interests of all the beneficiaries.
