property minor ownership inheritance guardianship
Hypothetically, in the U.S., is it legal for a parent to sell items inherited by their minor child?
<p>Let’s say that a minor child, who is very close to the age of majority, inherits a house in which that minor child had lived with only one of their parents, until that parent’s death.</p>
<p>Now let’s say that the surviving parent was estranged from the deceased parent and did not live in that house before the other parent’s death. Let’s also imagine that, according to public records, the surviving parent had signed a quit claim on the house, and is not on the new mortgage.</p>
<p>To make this more interesting, now let’s imagine that, since the death of the parent, the minor child has <em>not</em> lived in the house they inherited; however, the surviving parent <em>is</em> now living in that house.</p>
<p>As a final twist, let’s say that the surviving parent (who is now living in the house inherited by the minor child) is neither the guardian nor the conservator of the minor child.</p>
<p>In a hypothetical scenario like this, would it be legal for the surviving parent to sell any of the contents of the house that the minor child inherited, without the minor child’s consent?</p>

<p>Parents do not have the right to their child's property. See <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/76587/is-it-legal-for-a-parent-to-take-items-from-their-children">this question</a>.</p>
<p>The parent cannot sell the house as they don't own it. The minor does- there is no law that says they cannot own real estate.  There are limits on what minors can and can't do with it but this simply means that the legal guardian would be involved in selling it.</p>
<p>Even if the parent was the legal guardian they would be selling it on behalf of the child. Depending on the age of the child this would involve either their consent or this being in their best interests.</p>
<p>The contents are more complicated. In theory, if they were also inherited by the child, no. In practice it would be difficult to prove ownership. The most reliable way to prevent this would be taking physical possession of any important items by removing either the item or the parent from the house.</p>
