Untangling ownership key to acquiring property
Q: I would like to purchase my neighbor’s home, which is co-owned by her and her deceased aunt. The aunt passed away 10 years ago and the niece has continued living in the home. All the relatives of the deceased aunt live in Mexico and are unknown to the niece. What would it take for the niece to obtain clear title so that she could then sell the house to me? Additionally, the niece is now $20,000 behind on property taxes in the event this is a factor.
A: If you want to be sure you have clear title to the home, you should hire an investigator to find the names, addresses and phone numbers of the people who inherited from your neighbor's deceased aunt. Even though they live in
Mexico, they are probably easy to find.
It could get complicated if one or more of them have died in the meantime, as you would then need to find the names of more people who own an interest in the home.
Once you know the names of all the other co-owners, you or your neighbor should contact them, and the odds are, they will want to sell.
You should process the sale through a title company and be sure to obtain title insurance, typically paid for by the sellers. When you purchase the property, the title company will use $20,000 of the sales price to pay the back taxes, with the owners sharing the rest in proportion to their ownership interests.
Q: My husband and I are planning a big family trip this summer that will involve
almost the entire family being on the same plane. We'd like to add a provision that would change how our estate is distributed in the unlikely event all of us are killed in an accident. Is there a way to create a witnessed and notarized codicil that would allow for this change until we return from the trip? If we all make it back alive, we want to revert to the present wording in our wills.
A: You could simply add a condition in the codicils providing that if your death occurs between specified dates, or while on a specified trip, that the contingent beneficiaries in your will are to be as stated in the codicils. But if you are alive when the condition comes to an end, then the codicils are to be disregarded. It would be like a self-destruct mechanism within the codicils.
You should hire an attorney to prepare the codicils for you.
The information in this column is intended to provide a general understanding of the law, not legal advice. Readers with legal problems, including those whose questions are addressed here, should consult attorneys for advice on their particular circumstances. Ronald Lipman of the Houston law firm Lipman & Associates is board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Email questions to stateyourcase@lipmanpc.com.