Inheritance Question

[Rubia Warren]

If a person specifically wills a home that is paid for to a family member and they die, does the person recieving the home have to go have the title/deed thingie changed into their name?

[Sparko]

If a person specifically wills a home that is paid for to a family member and they die, does the person recieving the home have to go have the title/deed thingie changed into their name?

yes. and they will have to take over all responsibility for taxes too.

[Rubia Warren]

Hmm. Well I don't get this.

We're buying a house, the seller claims he inherited it a few years ago when his mom died (or mother in law, I dunno which), he rented it out, and now he's had it for sale for about 1.5 years.
We were getting ready to close this week, and we've been told now by the realtor that the title company found a problem with that. The seller told them he had power of attorney over her, the title company said, "Yeah, well, that's for when the lady was alive". So, according to the realtor, the seller was at home this evening "looking for his copy of the will as we speak." He said worse-case scenario is that the seller will have to go to probate court and will delay everything for 2-3 months.

This lady supposedly died like 4 or 5 years ago or something like that & there's no mortgage on the home. He then rented the house out for a few years. Does this mean he was renting the house out while it was still legally in his mother's name?? Will there be some sort of tax issues with that that will have to be resolved as well? There are no back taxes owed on the property, at least in the mother's name........

I'm not fully understanding why he didn't transfer it into his name???? And why he's had it up for sale this long and it never occurred to him that this would happen????

I'm so frustrated. :doh:

[Xavier]

Welcome to wonderful world of Legal paper.

[Rubia Warren]

I guess the good thing about it is that I won't have to worry about some other family member claiming it is theirs after I buy the house-- then I'd really have a headache. So I am glad the title company is doing its job.

Just still not quite getting why the guy has had it up for sale, not thinking of these issues?? Hello??? This whole thing is just really dumb on his part. Or at least it seems that way to me.

[rmwilliamsjr]

Hmm. Well I don't get this.

We're buying a house, the seller claims he inherited it a few years ago when his mom died (or mother in law, I dunno which), he rented it out, and now he's had it for sale for about 1.5 years.
We were getting ready to close this week, and we've been told now by the realtor that the title company found a problem with that. The seller told them he had power of attorney over her, the title company said, "Yeah, well, that's for when the lady was alive". So, according to the realtor, the seller was at home this evening "looking for his copy of the will as we speak." He said worse-case scenario is that the seller will have to go to probate court and will delay everything for 2-3 months.

This lady supposedly died like 4 or 5 years ago or something like that & there's no mortgage on the home. He then rented the house out for a few years. Does this mean he was renting the house out while it was still legally in his mother's name?? Will there be some sort of tax issues with that that will have to be resolved as well? There are no back taxes owed on the property, at least in the mother's name........

I'm not fully understanding why he didn't transfer it into his name???? And why he's had it up for sale this long and it never occurred to him that this would happen????

I'm so frustrated. :doh:

i had the same problem with a lot i wanted to buy.
we made an offer, put money down and waited almost 2 years for the work to get clear title done. it was never accomplished , we did not want it without clear title, someone else who didn't care bought the property with the cloud over the title.

we talked to a real estate lawyer and he told us that we would not be able to get a building or a home loan with that cloud on the title, plus no one would offer title insurance.

btw, the best way to own property, imho, i am NOT a lawyer, in Arizona at least, is to own as a living trust. Both my mom and my mother in law died within the last 6 years. the effort and time and expense for my mom, who had a living trust and had the house covered by it, and my wife's mom who did not was EXTREME. lawyers and taxes etc took more than 75% of mom-in-laws estate and zero of my mom's. look into it.

[Pilgrim]

Roobz, don't worry. If his mom had clear title there will be no issue. With out a will the property would have gone to him anyway as the next of kin.

You may have to delay your plans for a month or two at the most but that's all.

[Sparko]

Roobz, don't worry. If his mom had clear title there will be no issue. With out a will the property would have gone to him anyway as the next of kin.

You may have to delay your plans for a month or two at the most but that's all.

as long as he has been paying the property taxes (even if they were still sent to his mom) then Pilgrim is right. Its just a legal problem and that is why you have lawyers involved. It may just take some time to get the tangle out.