Question: After reading your columns on the advantages
of beneficiary deeds, I want to execute a beneficiary deed to
my son and daughter 50%-50% for my Scottsdale condominium. What
happens if after I die, neither my son nor my daughter wants to
sell their 50% interest in the condominium?
Answer: If the beneficiary deed provides that your son
and daughter each have an undivided 50% tenants-in-common interest
in the condominium, upon your death technically either one can
sell their 50% interest to a buyer. As a practical matter, however,
no buyer wants to buy only 50% of a condominium with a stranger
being the other 50% owner. Therefore, if only one of your children
wants to sell the condominium after your death, the other will
have to agree to sell, or the court will order that the condominium
be sold with the sale proceeds after cost, divided 50-50.
