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No will, no probate; is house legally mine?

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bill parks

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? New York

In 1979, my Grandfather, who lived in New York, passed away , & left no will that I know of. My Grandmother had already passed in 1965. His children (my mother, aunts, etc.) assumed that his house automatically went to them. There were no probate proceedings, and nothing was filed at the courthouse. In 1993, they sold the house to me for $40,000 (it was worth about $160,000 at the time). My Deed says the sale was between "the Heirs of" my Grandfather, and me. They have never had a Deed with their names on it saying the property belongs to them. I now want to sell the house. Is the house legally mine since there was no Probate proceeding that formally gave the house to them? My neighbor says that I must get Affidavits from one of the Heirs on the Deed, and, a friend of my Grandfather, to prove that the Heirs on the Deed are in fact the true Heirs; then the house will legally be mine. Is that true? Also, does it help in the fact that I've been living in the house and paying the bills for more than ten years (adverse possession)? Will I be able to sell this house in any way? Thank you.What is the name of your state?
 


nextwife

Senior Member
You have a legal MESS. How was the house titled when Grandpa passed? Was Grandma's interest deatlt with? You OBVIOUSLY failed to get any title work done. A party must convey in their own names, not as a collective name such as the "heirs" because creditors with liens or judgmenets against individuals are entitled to settlement of their liens. Did each party also sign their names and were their names also listed individually? WHY would you pay 40,000 dollars and not bother to make sure you could get what you were paying for? REALLY, this was about as legally sloppy as is possible.

Was the so called deed notarized and recorded?

You need a attorney - in 1979. Probate must be done. Maybe even probate for Grandma first. There is no way to know if all potential heirs conveyed their interest or if the original conevyance was done on an enforcable deed.

Start with an attorney! You will need a title report so you know what your start point is.
 
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tranquility

Senior Member
Get an attorney. Pay him lots of money to do the research. You will never get adverse possession as you have permission to be there. I don't think you can quiet title without probate. The series of transactions you did are impossible to unravel (And, there is some unraveling because of the unfortunate language in the deed.)until you do probate. No one like probate. It makes things public and costs lots of money and is a big hassle. One reason we have probate is to transfer the title of property owned by someone who is now dead. I mean, it's really hard to get a dead guy to sign a deed.

Bottom line, you screwed up and it will cost thousands (Or, tens of thousands if someone disagrees.) and some time to fix it. You can sell all your rights in the property in a quit claim, but no one would buy them without a huge discount.
 

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