One heir will not sign. The rest of you do not have to stand still.
Four heirs in agreement. One who does not reply. And everything held up by their silence: the house unsold, costs running, the family waiting for a phone that does not ring.
If you are in that situation, the first thing is to say you are entirely right: it is exasperating, it is not your fault and it will not be fixed by "talking to him again". If three conversations did not move him, a fourth will not either. What changes things is not insisting: it is knowing what paths exist when full agreement does not come. This page is the long version of that answer; the full map of blocked situations is in the inheritance guide.
Nobody is obliged to stay tied
The key idea, put plainly: the law does not force anyone to remain in a co-ownership they do not want. The Civil Code says it as it is: no one is obliged to remain in the community, and anyone may ask at any time for it to be divided. This is known as the division of jointly owned property.
That does not mean forcing anyone to sell their share. It means that whoever wants out has the right to get out — and that one person's silence cannot become an eternal veto over the others.
The one who neither accepts nor renounces
There is an earlier and very common case: the heir who has not even accepted the inheritance. They do not sign, do not renounce, do not reply. Meanwhile, the inheritance cannot be divided.
There is a tool for that silence too: the heir who does not take a position can be formally required, through a notary, to say yes or no within thirty days. And the Civil Code makes the consequence clear: if they stay silent, the inheritance is deemed accepted. It is not an attack: it is putting a clock on the table where before there was only waiting.
The court route exists. And it is best avoided.
When no agreement is possible, the division can be requested in court. And since a house cannot be cut into five pieces, the law provides for the end of that road: the house is sold and the price divided — in inheritances, a single heir asking for a public auction is enough for it to happen, with bidders from outside the family included.
It is worth saying plainly: in an auction everyone usually loses value. The one who wanted to sell, the one who wanted to stay and the one who kept quiet. That is why the court route is not the plan — it is the argument. Knowing it exists, and that the final scenario harms everyone, is what usually brings the one who would not sit down to the table. Our job is to make sure it never gets that far.
What to do while one person stays silent
Waiting with your arms folded is not the only option. While the one who will not sign still does not sign, everything else can be prepared: the full diagnosis of the house —ownership, charges, paperwork—, the valuation, the state of the inheritance itself. Arriving at the table with the file done changes the conversation: you no longer argue over assumptions, you decide on facts.
How the whole process is organised once agreement comes —acceptance, allocation, sale— is in selling an inherited house between siblings. And if the blocked house is the one in the countryside, with its planning layer on top, that double case is in selling an inherited country house.
Frequently asked questions
A sibling refuses to sell. Can they block us for ever?
No. Co-ownership is not a prison: any co-owner can request division. It is another matter that the path without agreement is long and worse for everyone — which is why the route of agreement is exhausted first, with real information on the table.
What if they have not even accepted the inheritance?
There is a way to formally require them to take a position within a deadline. It is a serious step and best taken with good advice, but it exists precisely so that silence is not a strategy.
Can I sell just my share of the inheritance?
In certain cases the share could be sold, but it is usually the worst way out: few buyers, a heavily discounted price and the underlying problem still there for the others. Before that, it pays to exhaust the ways of organising the sale of the whole.
How long does something like this take to resolve?
It depends on whether it is resolved by agreement or in court. With agreement, the timing is set by preparing the file. Without agreement, court deadlines are long and depend on no one in the family. It is one of the things that become concrete once we look at your case.