<prompt> Human: TLDR: Eight years ago, when their father died, my wife and her brother were left a dilapidated house and the 100 acres on which it sits. My wife wants to sell, her brother does not. He doesnt have the cash to buy her out. We want him to be able to keep all of the property while my wife gets her inheritance in cash money. What are some obvious, or creative ways to achieve this?My Father in law died 8 years ago. To my wife and her brother, he left 5050 ownership of a delapidated house on 100 acres of land. Thats how it appears on paper; However, in the two or so years preceeding Father in Laws death, brother had been working to fix the house up. Father in Law verbally left the house to his son, my wifes brother, and none of the parties dispute this.To complicate things further, my wife and her brother agreed to gift though I think it was only verbally 20 acres of land to their half brother, whom accepted, but doesnt really care about the land, or the money.My wife and I live several states away and have no interest in keeping the property. Her brother lives 1.5 hours away from the property and has dreams of taking his kids huntingcamping there someday. So he does not want to sell.My wife made her position clear from the beginning, but agreed to allow her brother to continue making payments on the 40k mortgage while he figured out how to buy out my wifes 40. That was 8 years ago. We have brought it up a few times. At one point, there was an uncle that was interested, which would keep it in the family, but then something happened. There was a friend who could loan the money to him, then something happened. It is a pain in the ass to think or talk about, so for the most part, it only gets brought up when we wish we had additional money for something. Id like to see it invested in college funds for our children, or retirement, etc. Overall though, getting the money has been a desire, not a dire need. We recently took out loans for my wife to go back to school. That was the final straw. My wife needs to get her inheritance. We like her brother and his family, so threats, lawyers, etc. are a last resort only, as they would likely result in damage to our relationship. An ideal solution for us would be one in which her brother could keep the whole property, and she could get her due. Were fine with getting it in smaller sums, but we want 20k in 2 years or less, and the full sum within 5.What are some obvious andor creative ways to settle this? The details:At time of death, the property was appraised at 300k, but our expectation is that it would bring in substantially less than that if sold. Brother has been making the payment on the 40k mortgage for the past 8 years some of that payment may be coming from income produced by leasing the farmable land The house:Since father in laws death, brother in law has gotten married, had kids, etc and mostly moved on from restoring the house. It is not in livable condition, and as someone with no qualification to do so, I would appraise it at around 20k. IMO Its basically worth the meeter that it is attached to plus some materials. His fathers wishes were that the house go to her brother.The Land:A fair amount of the 100 acres is huntable, but only about 20 is farmable. I think the brother is leasing out the farmable acreage. Since she has no ownership of the house, her share is essentially 40 acres after she agreed to give 10 of her inheritance to her half brother. The brother:Has a steady, reliable career in a branch of the military. I expect he has an average amount of debt and credit.  <response>: This is a very typical scenario when iliquid assets are left to multiple heirs, and is a big reason why most people who say their estate plan is set because they have a will are making a huge mistake. father-in-law, in not wanting to talk about this openly, and either make a clean split of the land or a provision for your wife who doesnt want land to get cash instead really did a number on the kids, probably without even realizing it.Your brother in law has no right to keep the property indefinitely without making some kind of agreement with your wife. But family is family, and if your wife isnt willing to risk severely damaging or breaking that relationship, she may have no recourse. If Brother in law can support the mortgage payments on a fair valuation for her part of the property, and can get that loan how good is his credit? Does he have plenty of other income? Does he already have a mortgage on his primary home and what of his income is it? thats the ideal solution for him to keep the property. Given that its been 8 years and nothing has happened, Im concerned that there is some reason that he hasnt already gone ahead and proposed this. Either 1 its not so simple, something about his situation or the land means he cant get a standard low-interest mortgage for 12 of it, or 2 he just doesnt want to pay that, and as long as he can string your wife along hes going to do it.One question: is there agreement in principle about the probably market value of the land? you say appraised at 300k 8 years ago but worth less now. That makes sense given the real estate market, but do you have a ballpark estimate? 200k? 150k? 250k? And does brother agree with it? Close? Miles apart?Are there other family members who can bring some pressure to bear on brother to work out a solution? It sounds to me like the primary problem here is not a lack of knowledge, but his willingness to let everything go because right now, HE has what he wants from that inheritance, and its not costing him anywhere near as much as it should. He is the problem here. For your wife to get her inheritance, someone is going to have to deal with the brother.My recommendation is to start going through with subdividing the lot as discussed by ribnag -- make sure all parcels have road access or right of way or whatever is needed to make them marketable. If brother wont go along, and isnt willing to take out a loan or otherwise come up with the money, then there may ultimately be a legal dispute?Who is the executor? Were there any lawyers involed in the estate or probate process? What have these people been saying or doing over the last 8 years? The executor is legally responsible as a fiduciary for the estate, and their primary responsibility is to see that the estate is settled and all parties get their due share in a timely fashion. 8 years is not a timely fashion. How did those conversations go down in the first year or two? 