Foreigner left US property to foreign children

[seair]

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

Hi,
Property is a condo.
So our dad died in UK. He and us were/are UK citizens, living in the UK full time. His will left us as beneficiaries. He used the US property as a vacation home. (1 month at the longest at a time)
All mainenance fees are paid and up to date as well as land taxes.
It has gone through probate and stamped by the UK court. However, we are trying to sell the US property but have been told that we can't sell because we're not the legal owners. Is there a way we can avoid an attorney in the US to get this sorted out? Can our legally stamped document help us to sell the property. Does the deed need to have our names on it as owner? Can we avoid the expense of changing the deed just to sell?
One other issue: We do not have the deeds and don't know where to look for them.
Would the condo association have them? When I asked them, I can't seem to get a definitive answer. Would the court have them?
Sorry for the long post.
Thanks.

 

[tranquility]

No. You'll need to go through probate in Florida to own the property. Even if dad lived in the U.S., but in another state, there would have to be what is known as ancillary probate in the state where the real property was. (Unless things were set up in a trust or had a co-owner.)

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

You need to file with the Florida court to open probate, obtain recognition of the foreign order and process the title of the property.