Personal Finance

My deadbeat uncle is squatting in a house I inherited - should we evict him?

Christy Bieber

Published: March 8, 2025 4:08 pm

Dealing with family can sometimes be challenging under the best of circumstances. If you are involved in a family dispute surrounding an inheritance, then things become even more complicated. Unfortunately, this is a situation a Reddit user is currently dealing with.

The Redditor explained that his grandmother passed away and left behind a living trust that specified a five-way split between her children and grandkids. Since the original poster (OP) lost his dad, he is supposed to get both his own share of the estate and his dad’s share. 

The problem is, the estate included a house and his Uncle was living in the house with the grandmother at the time of her death. The uncle has always lived in that home, and he doesn’t want to leave. Instead, he’s hunkered down in the home for the last year. He’s paying the home expenses out of the grandmother’s accounts and keeps telling the executor that he’s going to buy out the others despite the fact he has no job and no means of getting the money.

The Redditor is concerned that the Uncle won’t leave, that the grandma’s money is being wasted and that the situation is never going to get resolved.  Is he right, and what should he do? 

Getting an attorney is the best bet when inheritance conflicts arise

In this particular case, and in most inheritance disputes, the best option is to get a lawyer involved. An attorney can help you understand your rights and assist in enforcing them.

Your attorney will likely tell you that your Uncle does need to move or buy out your family members because right now, he is taking property that should belong to everyone and could potentially be eroding the value of the property if he is not maintaining the home appropriately. This could make it harder to find a buyer in the future. 

The longer you let the situation persist, the more damage could be done and the greater the potential loss. That’s obviously not what your grandmother wanted as she could have left the house to your uncle alone but chose not to do so. 

You’ll need to be careful about how the situation is handled, though, as buyers often don’t want to purchase a home that’s tied up in an estate dispute. Plus, since the home is your uncle’s legal residence, you can’t just toss him out onto the curb. Your attorney will help you to take the right steps to get the process moving and to move your Uncle out in accordance with the law. 

Should you buy the property?

If you are considering personally buying the house, rather than just insisting that it be sold, you have to realize that this could increase the chances of lingering long-term resentment with your uncle since you’ll be living in the house that was “his” and that he grew up in and lived in all his life.

If you have the money to make the purchase and you really want to keep the home in your family, it may be worth dealing with this downside of ownership. But it’s at least worth considering whether this is the right move. 

A financial advisor can help you to determine if you should buy based on your finances, but only you can decide how your quality of life and long-term family relationships will be shaped by your choice. You may want to talk with the other heirs about helping you remove your uncle and decide whether to keep the property or move on with a clean slate.