Father Purchased Farm Property In 2016 To Start Business. His Sons Have Made All Mortgage Payments Directly To Bank. He Refuses To Discuss Split Ownership. Can We Make A Claim For Ownership?

We do not have a written agreement, but the three of us (father and 2 sons) are members of the LLC working the farm. Father is a silent partner.

At the time of purchase the father was over leveraged and needed to be reimbursed within 2 years, so he was paid back in full for all of his expenses toward the business and the amount put down on the property. He was facing tax penalties so we felt obligated to reimburse him and didn’t believe we needed to pursue a purchase of the farm or any other legal action which we now regret.

I don’t know if there’s any precedence for family to make a claim toward ownership in this kind of situation. I don’t know what kind of lawyer I should speak to either. Real Estate attorney?! Do you know of an angle?

One of the sons has lived there the entire time.

Also, father is a frivolous fool and we believe he has refinanced the property at least once so he has no motivation to sell at a deal. We (the LLC) have made improvements to the property in the sum of $250,000 and would love to not buy those things twice.

Property was purchased for $560k and is worth ~$1M now.