Posted on: 10th May, 2012 11:05 am
I inherited a property and home Via will in 2006. The owners were both married ..his spouse passed away in 1991.. neither had children together or from any prior marriage .. I live in the State of Texas where it is community property. I was informed that I could not sell a portion of the land because the deceased wife was on the deed.. They told me I would have to find everyone of her living heirs in order to sell it.. Is that right .. Everything I have read says that if she did not have a will (and she did not) then the entire estate goes to the living spouse.. the living spouse left it in turn to me.. Please tell me what my legal rights are..Thank you Carol
Hi Carol,
The authorities can check out whether or not there are any living heirs to your wife's estate before giving you the ownership of the sole property. I don't think there is anything wrong in this. Nevertheless, you should contact a real estate attorney and take his opinion in this regard.
The authorities can check out whether or not there are any living heirs to your wife's estate before giving you the ownership of the sole property. I don't think there is anything wrong in this. Nevertheless, you should contact a real estate attorney and take his opinion in this regard.
Most important feature of a joint tenancy arrangement is the "right of survivorship." When the first spouse dies, his or her stake in the property passes directly to the surviving spouse, without the need for probate administration. During probate, a court determines the validity of the decedent's estate documents and helps to settle any claims against the estate before the property is distributed to the heirs.
:idea:
:idea:
The surviving husband left me with his estate and it went through probate and there was no contesting ..I have the letter of testamentary and all is legal in that department .. the Abstract Title company says they will not issue Title Insurance to the buyer of this little piece of land I want to sell until I clear up his deceased spouses heirs because her name was on the Deed. My question was why would I need to do that if Texas is a Community State and he was the other living spouse on the Deed and they never had Children.? why would they have me find all the deceased wife's heirs>??? Now I have to sell to the buyer without a Insurance of Title.
Oh and thank you so very much for all of your advice and help here.. I have never come across such a mess.. Just didn't know how to solve this ..The lady I have to deal with at the Abstract Title Company is so determined that she is right but in the same breath she says I don't know I am not a Lawyer and she was not able to help me with my questions.. Like she created all this drama and I am suppose to clear it up..
Hi Carol,
I can understand what you're going through. So, as Adonis has suggested, you should contact a real estate attorney and take his suggestion in this matter. You can rather ask the attorney to contact the title company and discuss the matter with him.
Thanks
I can understand what you're going through. So, as Adonis has suggested, you should contact a real estate attorney and take his suggestion in this matter. You can rather ask the attorney to contact the title company and discuss the matter with him.
Thanks
Thank you,James I will most certainly do that.. I have a call in to the lawyer who wrote the will that originally made me owner.. This lawyer is sooooo hard to get a return call from.. he is always out of town !!