🏛️ Real estate inheritance conflicts:
how to avoid or resolve them?

Real estate inheritance conflicts: how to avoid or resolve them?

Inheriting real estate can be a heavy act of meaning, often loaded with emotions and family memories. However, behind the inheritance sometimes hides tensions, even real blockages, especially when several heirs must make common decisions. How to prevent conflicts? What to do in case of disagreement? Here is a practical guide to see more clearly.

🧩 1. Undivision: a frequent source of tensions

When several people inherit real estate together, they find themselves in joint possession . This means that they are co -owners in equal parts (or depending on the daily life provided by the succession) and must make decisions together.

Problems often appear when:

• One wants to sell and the other not;

• An heir lives in the good without paying compensation to others;

• Fees (maintenance, property tax, work) are not fairly shared.

💡 Good to know: as long as the joint ownership continues, no decision can be made without the agreement of all (or a majority qualified for certain decisions).

❌ 2. Sell or keep? When the heirs oppose

The most common dilemma occurs when part of the family wishes to quickly sell the good to reach its share, while another member preserves the accommodation , often for emotional or heritage reasons.

This type of conflict can cause:

• Sustainable legal blockages;

• Degraded family relationships;

• A loss of value of the property if the situation is dragged.

🛑 Please note: blocking can last for years if no agreement is reached. Meanwhile, during this time, the good can deteriorate and the charges accumulate.

⚖️ 3. The role of the notary: prevent and support

The notary is often the first recourse in the context of a succession. Its role is to clarify the rights of each , establish acts (sharing, certificate of ownership) and propose an outing of joint possession.

His missions:

• Check the validity of property securities;

• Assess the property (via a real estate expert if necessary);

• Establish an act of sharing if all the heirs agrees.

✅ Tip: Anticipate the conflict by appointing an agent (or by appointing a manager of joint ownership) can allow more fluid management of good.

🗣️ 4. Family mediation: a peaceful alternative

When tensions go up, calling on a family mediator often unlocks the situation without going through a long trial.

Mediation allows:

• To restore dialogue in a neutral framework;

• To evoke the financial but also emotional issues of the dispute;

• To seek a solution that respects everyone's interests.

👨‍👩‍👧 It is particularly useful when the situation is sensitive (ex: an heir lives in the house, or has invested in it personally) and that loved ones can no longer talk to each other.

🏛️ 5. The use of the succession judge: as a last resort

If no agreement is reached, the judicial court (and more specifically the protection litigation judge) may be seized to decide.

The judge may:

• Order judicial sharing : the property will be sold at auction or awarded to one of the heirs against compensation;

• Appoint an expert or a notary responsible for managing the sale or assessing the property;

• Sanction abusive behavior or unjustified blockages.

⚠️ Useing the judge must remain a last resort solution , because the procedures are long, expensive and often painful on the family.

💡 To remember