Wills and Real Estate

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My mother signed her property over to me a year ago ( I had taken over the mortage payments in 2008 as her husband would not give her money for the payments and she was unemployed due to health) I had been planning on moving back to my hometown soon and wanted to move onto the property after she passes away. She told me she put in her will that my stepfather is to be allowed to live on the land rent free for the rest of his life. Do I have any legal recourse against this? She does not have a living trust for the land and does not pay any rent currently.

did she actually execute a deed transferring her interest in the property to you? If so, she no longer has any interest in the property to convey to anybody.

A bigger problem I see is; if she was married at the time of the transfer to you or was married sometime prior to that, her husband or ex husband may have a legitimate claim on some share of the property either as a co-tenant (owner) or by rights conveyed due to the marriage.


So, to start with; did she make a deed conveying all her interest to you?

How was title held prior to that (you mom, your mom and another(s)) if with others, exactly how was title held (joint, tenants in common, tenants in the entirety) and what percentage held by each owner, if specified.

was the property acquired before she married her current husband? Did he ever pay anything towards the home?

If you haven't figured it out, there are a lot of possibilities in this situation.

The deed is in my name. Before that, it was in my fathers and her name. Her will said that the land is to go to me, but that he is to be allowed to live there for the rest of his life rent free.

If she has already deeded the property to you, unless she included a life estate for her husband in the deed, her husband has no right to living in the house at all.

A will cannot express control over property the testator no longer has any interest in.

Do I have any legal recourse against this?

Click to expand...

yes. Yo simply evict anybody in the house whenever you want to take possession of it. You could evict your mother and step father right now if you wanted to.