Co-owners and inherited houses
My brother is living in our late parent's house and won't pay rent or move out. What can the rest of us do?
Based on an interview with Josué Cristóbal Guerrero, Founding Partner, recorded .
The short answer
It depends on who owns the house now. In most families the answer is to get someone legally in charge first: an administrator or executor if the house has to go through probate, or the successor trustee if it is in a trust. That person can then evict an occupant who has no right to be there.
Start with how the house is titled
If your parents held the house in their personal names, a probate will need to be opened, and the court will appoint an executor under the will or an administrator if there is none. If it is in a trust, the successor trustee named in the trust takes over. How the house is owned is what decides this.
The person in charge steps into the shoes of the parent who died and manages the property the way that parent could have. A personal representative has a statutory right to take possession of estate property and to receive its rents.
When your brother can stay
Eviction assumes he has no right to remain. A lease is a right to remain. So is a life estate. Those are the defenses we look for first, and either one changes the answer.
If your brother is himself the trustee or administrator, the route changes, and the question becomes whether a court should remove him. If title has already passed to the siblings as co-owners, there is usually no one with authority over the others, and the route is different: partition, or a negotiated buyout.
- Probate Code section 9650. The personal representative has the right to take possession or control of estate property and to receive its rents until distribution.
This answer is general information about California law and is not legal advice for any specific situation. Deadlines and exceptions turn on your facts. Code sections were checked against California Legislative Information on November 4, 2026.
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