heir property in texs

[gwlgreer]

our mother died in may 1997...we allowed my sister to live in the family home...stating thst she only do repairs and pay taxes and insurance....there was no probate done...now my brother and i would like for her and her husband to buy us out...no other children involed..just the three of us...do we have to file probate in texas...this is in texarkana texas...can we just get real estate lawyer to handle this? i know we have to get an appraisel..

can we take out an equity loan for the money we want out of the house and have them pay the loan payment...meaning the 2/3 to my brother and myself...and if they default the house would go to the loan company...

we need direction to start..thank you

the home was paid for...we have a will...but she(our mother was living at a different address then...does that matter...a living will...witnesses and all

 

[advisor10]

JUNE 26, 2001

DEAR GWL:

You do need to go through probate to (1) give whoever is executor the legal authority to handle any affairs involving any money or property owned by the mother, and (2) to legally transfer the title/deed of the home to the proper owner (the estate executor).

The fact that she was living at a different address then doesn't matter--what is really important is if her name is shown on the title/deed as the owner of record for whatever the address was for the home she owned.

You may want to get a second opinion from a real estate attorney about this, or post your question to the real estate section of this message board.