Inherited Home Sparks Battle: Woman Fights to Stay in 55-Plus Community Amid Controversy
Imagine inheriting your dad’s home—only to find out your new neighbors want you out because you’re not old enough to live there. Yeah, sounds like one heck of a plot twist, right? Bethany Michel, a 28-year-old Florida woman, already called this 55-and-over community home since 2020, caring for her dad in his final days. But now, despite her connection and the fact she was supposedly “grandfathered in,” the homeowner’s association and some residents are gunning to boot her over strict age rules. And get this—the HOA’s even cooking up a $155,000 legal fund to make it happen, with neighbors chipping in about a grand each. So, is it just an age-old legal tangle, or something way messier? Bethany’s fighting to keep what’s rightfully hers, while the community’s split on whether she belongs or not. Intrigued yet?
A 28-year-old woman who inherited her dad’s home in a 55-and-over community says her neighbours are forcing her out as they’ve sued to have her removed.
News4Jax reports that Florida woman Bethany Michel inherited her home in the community for older people from her dad after he died in 2023, and she’d already been living there since 2020 to provide care for him in his final years during the pandemic.
However, the community has rules that every property must have someone aged 55 or more living in it, and since Bethany is some way younger than that the other residents are pursuing legal action to try and get her to leave.
“I 100 percent am being forced out. They’re trying to rip my office away from me, too,” the woman said of her predicament.
She claimed the local homeowner’s association (HOA) was raising a fee of $155,000 with other community residents expected to chip in around $1,000 each to afford the legal battle.
Bethany Michel inherited her home in a 55-and-over community from her dad after he died (News4Jax)
The community’s rules are in place to meet the Housing for Older Persons Act which allow places to have age restrictions on residents.
Bethany has claimed that while she doesn’t meet the rules of the community she was assured she’d be allowed to keep living in the home she inherited from her father, claiming the housebuilder told her she’d be ‘grandfathered in’ following his death though she says she’s never seen paperwork with it in writing.
She said: “My dad’s biggest concern was something would happen to him. His dying wish was that this house would be left to his daughter.”
According to Bethany, three months after her dad died she was given a message telling her that she no longer met the rules to stay in the 55-and-over community and would be expected to move away.
She added that she’d been cut off from the community amenities, including a pool, gym and clubhouse, but has no plans to leave the home she inherited from her dad.
Three months after her dad died Bethany was asked to move out, but she says she was told she would be allowed to stay (News4Jax)
Not all of her neighbours want the woman gone, her next-door neighbour Bob Stadler said he couldn’t afford the money he’d be expected to chip in for the litigation against Bethany and thought she’d never caused problems for the area.
He said: “I never know she’s even there. If she wants to stay, let her stay. If she wants to move, let her move. But don’t force her out.”
Another neighbour named William Baltazar told News4Jax he thought most of the community residents disagreed with trying to get Bethany to leave.
“As a person who has kids, I don’t believe that this is the right thing to do, to just kick her out and take her out,” he said.
“The majority of the people here disagree with this. There are very few people that are really pushing it.”
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