selling off joint inheritance

My grandmother passed away about 7 yrs ago. She left some property to my dad and his sister in her will. They both own 50%. Since then, my dads sister took her own money and made some improvements on the cabin without consulting my dad. Now my dads sister is wanting to sell the property. She has told my dad that she wants her 50% plus the money that she put into the cabin. I would hope that when they sell this property, they each get 50% of the total sale and that is it. This property is in Arizona. Could you tell me what the norm is for this?

I'm not sure there is any norm--essentially if its a TIC title the presumption probably is 50/50 and thats the logical starting point--now it they cannot reach agreement the expensive solution is to force a sale --so called partition  OR each person can try to sell thier own share to any willing buyer....

They both want to sell the property, however, my dads sister wants what she put into the property ($25,000) on top of the 50% share that she is entitled to. Is this legal/ethical?

Is it illegal for her to ask for the $25,000?  Of course not. 

Is it ethical?  The law really only cares about what's legal and what it isn't. 

One could argue that, with the improvements, the overall value of the property -- including your father's share -- has been increased.  Is it ethical for him to reap the benefit of an increase in value without having done any of the work?

Ultimately, the two of them will have to work out a deal.  Hopefully, they can do it without having to go to court and spend money on lawyers and fees.

Look--she is entitled to ask for the moon-if  Dad wants to give her the moon is another story.

In some sutuations the contra logic would be Dad deserves more so as to unwrap the improvements he really didn't want--don't laught--thats logical in some minds! I like old features--if you put in 25K of new stuff I'd want it out!

This is 98% barter skills.

I think 50/50 is more rational! But I'm not Sis!

Question--who got majority of use of the place ?