What should I do regarding these bills.

[Christopher Olsen]

OK, so am an heir to a property that belonged to my father. Probate has not started.

Waiting for the courts to reopen so my brother and I can actually own the house and sell it. There is a person living in the house who is not paying rent and does not want to leave. You can read about it here and here. 

But there's more. I am paying a little over $450 a month out of my own pocket for gas, electricity, water, sewer, garbage, gardener, and insurance. They are all still in my father's name, but I get the bills and pay them.

The only thing I'm not paying is cable and internet because those are not essential. 

I know some of these bills would need to be paid if she was living there or not - like taxes and insurance. Other's are necessary to maintain the value of the house, like the gardener.

But I have been advised to pay all the bills in order to keep her name from being on anything so that if it ends up in court, my case for evicting her will be easier to win. Is that true, or does it not matter?

What would happen if I informed the utility companies that my father was deceased and told her to put the bills in her name if she still wanted those services?