VIC Land titles and ownership

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Fitfreakmary

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28 July 2019
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Hi. My parents own property with no mortgage and in recent months they have added a sibling to the title to protect his portion of the his inheritance from other siblings in the event my parents pass away. My parents and my sibling and his family have lived on the property the last 18 months in separate dwellings on the same property. However due to a bitter dispute with my sibling and his family, my parents wish to sell the property and severe ties with my sibling and his family. Given my sibling is on the title, is he entitled to a 3rd of the sale, even where my parents can provide evidentiary proof they have financed the property in full.
 

Tim W

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28 April 2014
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Not only does he prima facie appear entitled to a share of the proceeds,
your parents might even need his consent to sell.
 

Rod

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my sibling is on the title, is he entitled to a 3rd of the sale

Depends on how he was added - as joint proprietor, or as tenants-in-common.

Joint proprietor = 1/3rd

tennant-in-common = depends on what the share is listed as on the title itself.

A gift is a gift and your parents may have difficulty trying to reclaim the gift. They need proper legal advice, and even then the advice may not give a definitive answer.
 

Rob Legat - SBPL

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Unless Victoria is markedly different joint tenants does not mean a third (if three joint tenants) - it’s an indivisible share. No single joint tenant can sell a portion of the property; either all do or none do.

If it’s a tenants in common situation, any one proprietor can sell their respective share as noted on the title.
 

Rod

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Victoria is not different, right of survivorship and indivisible rules apply. Yes, I didn't mean to imply 1/3 could be sold. I was implying that after a sale, as proposed in the OP, there is a rebuttable assumption each party would be entitled to 1/3 of the proceeds. But brother could hold up the sale by refusing to sign paperwork leading to a contract of sale. An application to court/VCAT may be needed.