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Old 03-10-2017, 09:45 AM
 
Location: Lone Mountain Las Vegas NV
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How did the mother and father hold the property? If joint tenancy with right of survivor the place is owned outright by the mother. That ownership overrides any intestate laws.
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Old 03-10-2017, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Florida
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Assuming no will look up intestate for the state she lives in. This will tell you who will inherit the property.
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Old 03-10-2017, 10:54 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Briolat21 View Post
Which means (if I'm following this correctly) that your BIL 3 children are already the owners of 1/4 of the house. (Your MIL owns 50%, your husband owns the other 25%).
Argh. I believe you are right. Why didn't I think of that?

The thing to do might be to convince the 3 "kids" to sign it over to MIL or hubby now? They inherited their dad's house and 2 of the brothers are living in it, so they shouldn't care about mamaw's house, unless they have a falling out and the single one wants to move out. *argh*

But at MIL's death, with hubby owning 3/4 of the house, would they have enough legal right to insist that he let one of them live in it? That's mainly what he and MIL are worried about. She doesn't want any of them to have any chance of living in the house after she's gone.

She has nothing else....they never had much money, never planned for the future except for Social Security...he didn't even have any life insurance.

Hubby is already on her checking account, such as it is, so the kids won't be able to get their grubby hands on that, will they? It's not that it's such a large amount, it's just that they would spend it all on beer and cigarettes (and possibly drugs).

We have maintained a decent relationship with them through brother's death and funeral (we haven't had much contact with them over the years), and hubby has helped them with funeral stuff, so maybe they would be amenable to signing their part of Mamaw's house over to hubby.
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Old 03-10-2017, 08:03 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luvvarkansas View Post
Argh. I believe you are right. Why didn't I think of that?

The thing to do might be to convince the 3 "kids" to sign it over to MIL or hubby now? They inherited their dad's house and 2 of the brothers are living in it, so they shouldn't care about mamaw's house, unless they have a falling out and the single one wants to move out. *argh*

But at MIL's death, with hubby owning 3/4 of the house, would they have enough legal right to insist that he let one of them live in it? That's mainly what he and MIL are worried about. She doesn't want any of them to have any chance of living in the house after she's gone.

She has nothing else....they never had much money, never planned for the future except for Social Security...he didn't even have any life insurance.

Hubby is already on her checking account, such as it is, so the kids won't be able to get their grubby hands on that, will they? It's not that it's such a large amount, it's just that they would spend it all on beer and cigarettes (and possibly drugs).

We have maintained a decent relationship with them through brother's death and funeral (we haven't had much contact with them over the years), and hubby has helped them with funeral stuff, so maybe they would be amenable to signing their part of Mamaw's house over to hubby.
I certainly don't know if I'm right ... but it is certainly something for a lawyer to look into.

I mean if there was a house, that probably meant probate. And if the FIL died intestate - the state would have directed the probate according to state laws of inheritance (which in many states follow the rules outlined earlier in this thread - 50% to spouse, remaining equally split among children)

So was there probate? Was the house legally changed in ownership? Sounds (from your description) like it should have been... but again, I have no idea.

And there are various ways of titling a house (kind of like setting up a beneficiary on a stock or bank account) that would actually take the house out of probate entirely... (like titling "with rights of survivorship") where the house would lawfully have passed 100% to your MIL. I actually learned that on another thread here (hadn't really thought that through before...). So there are ways for a house to change ownership but skip probate, but it's all in how it was owned/titled prior to the death...


So first you need to establish the *current* ownership of the house... then you can think of the next moves.

*IF* the house is legally owned 25% by the nephews (I think that's the right relationship) and 75% by your husband, I don't think they could necessarily force occupancy of it; but they could force a sale (as could your husband) - which would likely be the cleanest decision.

I hope for yours (and your husbands' and MIL's) sake that the house was titled in such a way that it passed directly to MIL.

good luck!!
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Old 03-10-2017, 08:56 PM
 
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Originally Posted by Briolat21 View Post

I hope for yours (and your husbands' and MIL's) sake that the house was titled in such a way that it passed directly to MIL.
I doubt it...his parents were old-school and her name was probably never even on the house.
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Old 03-14-2017, 10:33 AM
 
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Ok, next question that comes to mind....if we don't take care of getting the nephews to sign their part of the house over to hubby before MIL goes, will they inherit any part of the 50% that she owns now? I was thinking that all of that 50% would go to hubby for some reason, but now it occurs to me that it might not.

I understand now why so many properties stay tied up "in heirs", as they say around here.

Understand, we have no paperwork or probate or legal papers or anything else to substantiate any of this....FIL just died with no will and MIL continued to live in the house and no one said a thing. Hubby and BIL had to sign so she could sell the car (she doesn't drive). Then BIL died. Again, MIL just continues to live in the house and no one has said anything. I'm just forseeing a problem when she is gone and the nephews own part of the house. They've always been a bit ne'er-do-well and strapped for money, and might get greedy and want to (a) live in the house (MIL does not want that) or (b) force hubby to sell so they can have their share (we might want to keep the house for some reason).
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Old 03-14-2017, 01:28 PM
 
Location: Las Vegas
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Different states have different laws but in most of them, if the husband dies without a will, the most his living spouse can inherit is 50%. However...if they are listed with the state/county as joint tenants when one dies the full ownership passes to the other. So that is another question that needs to be answered. And joint tenancy is the most common way for a married couple to title a home. If they are/were joint tenants, the house belongs to mom.

Bank accounts need to have PODs. A designated person who can show a Death Certificate and collect the funds. You can designate anyone you want. And a POD usually takes precedence over a will. It's just a simple form you fill out at the bank.
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Old 03-14-2017, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Baltimore, MD
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luvvarkansas View Post
Ok, next question that comes to mind....if we don't take care of getting the nephews to sign their part of the house over to hubby before MIL goes, will they inherit any part of the 50% that she owns now? I was thinking that all of that 50% would go to hubby for some reason, but now it occurs to me that it might not.

I understand now why so many properties stay tied up "in heirs", as they say around here.

Understand, we have no paperwork or probate or legal papers or anything else to substantiate any of this....FIL just died with no will and MIL continued to live in the house and no one said a thing. Hubby and BIL had to sign so she could sell the car (she doesn't drive). Then BIL died. Again, MIL just continues to live in the house and no one has said anything. I'm just forseeing a problem when she is gone and the nephews own part of the house. They've always been a bit ne'er-do-well and strapped for money, and might get greedy and want to (a) live in the house (MIL does not want that) or (b) force hubby to sell so they can have their share (we might want to keep the house for some reason).
The deed should be filed in the local courthouse and open to the public. It will name the owner(s) and their interest in the property, i.e. joint owners, sole owner, etc. Either go to the courthouse and read it or request a copy be mailed to you (shouldn't cost very much).
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Old 03-16-2017, 07:34 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
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First go to the courthouse and get a copy of the current deed.

This can be important on several levels... suppose one of the other owners goes bankrupt or a lean is placed on the house because of debts, have these other owners contributed to the payment of property taxes or maintenance on the house. Your mother needs to make sure she is protected, forget about the inheritance.

A lawyer can help your mother thread the needle on these matters.
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Old 03-17-2017, 07:39 AM
 
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I am kind of assuming the deed was never updated..

If he died intestate, and they thought "no assets" and they don't know about who owns what... That sounds like perhaps they didn't probate the house and actually haven't updated anything..

Which, they really should.

As far as post #16. If your MIL owns 50% of the house now (which we're all making that assumption based on generic intestate property division laws) - then she is 100% legally able to designate who inherits that interest in the home -- through a WILL.

In that will she can designate that her full share goes to her son, (your husband), the nephews, an animal shelter, whatever. She of course could also further subdivide her share.

But she needs to have a will, otherwise intestate will come back into play. Though I don't know if grandchildren would normally get a distribution in intestacy laws, but its safer to have a will and leave nothing to doubt.

If you can afford an estate lawyer, I'd really get the issue with the house settled while your mother's alive. It's possible that the nephews don't realize they own a portion of the house (and again, we're all speculating) - but it would be unfortuate to sell the house, etc.. and then have the nephews make a retroactive claim against the estate. I don't know if they could, but they could potentially cause issues and it's best just to deal with things up front.

Also, while it may be unfortunate given the fact that the nephews may not be super responsible, etc.. if there was no will and they are *legally* entitled to a share in the house (through their father, who was still alive at the time...) then any attempt to avoid that is really stealing. (Not accusing you of anything, just saying) - which obviously isn't ideal.

What did the nephews father's will say (your BiL's?) Because that's really how it would have transferred to your nephews..

Sorry, it's really a bit of a jumble, isn't it?? Which is why I think paying a lawyer might be the best thing to get it all straightened out..
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