UNOWN

family and property just don't mix. let adults take care of their own financial obligations. in ca there's no reason a cleaning deposit should be used to pay off a tenant's electric bills. the bill moves with the tenant. you move to place b with your bill from place a. a new tenant moves in with their pre-existing bill/account from their old place. the only exception is if the ll is footing the utility bills, but even then...a cleaning deposit is a cleaning deposit. my objective opinion comes from long experience with family finances and such...they don't mix. a family that buys together cries together because that money stuff is always about so much more than money. it's about sibling rivalry, favoritism, greed...people who'd never default on a credit card payment often have no trouble screwing their sibs or parents out of thousands. why? because they're family.