Heirs asked to sign a quit claim???

[Circon]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Georgia

Step mother "C" passed away last summer. In her will she left our fathers home to us four siblings and 2 of her neices. Originally when dad passed away 6 years ago C sent all of her step children a letter indicating that the house was to be left to us kids after her death, per our fathers wishes. Then a few months before she dies she apparently changed the will to include her neices. We know we can't change this.

No monies were left to to Step children but there were monies in her accounts. About $150K. All of this was left to the neices. Plus insurance, we have no idea how much that was and probably have no right to even ask, so we haven't.

Both of the neices are executors. They listed the house with a realtor who is their relative. The realtor called today and said all the heirs (4 step kids) have to sign a quit claim deed on the house before it can be sold.

It was my understanding that a quit claim deed gave our rights away leaving us no claim to any monies. Realtor indicated that this must be done in order to close on the house. Please advise us here. Should we or shouldn't we be signing this quit claim???

There is not a lot of money involved, I think the house will sell for about $160K. We were told by executors that the funeral expenses (10K) will be deducted from this amount along with realtor fees, and debts(about 20K still owed on house). Shouldn't all the assets be considered when paying these expenses and not just the house???

The will reads "cost of suitable memorial and just debts shall be paid from my eatate".

There are other strange things going on as it seems happens with all wills/heirs but these two points seem to be the big ones. The realtor think she is faxing us quit claim deeds today that we are to sign and fax back.

If you think we need an attorney I will certainly consult one immediatly. Since the will was pretty cut and dried we thought the expense of one was unnecessary but it seems things don't always go the way they were intended.

Thank you for any information.

 

[GaAtty]

GaAtty

You are absolutely right, the expenses should be paid out of the entire estate, not just the house proceeds. Obviously, the nieces want to keep their money to themselves, not an unusual thing in estate cases. The realtor is, like most realtors, knowledgeable just enough about law to be dangerous. A faxed quitclaim is no good at all for filing purposes. The quitclaim that can be filed in the courthouse for deed purposes must be an original signature that is notarized. The courthouse will not file one that is a faxed copy. (I still wouldn't sign it, anyway, though)The realtor is also wrong that you must sign the quitclaim before the closing. You sign the quitclaim at the closing, and you would not be giving it to the realtor, but to the closing attorney. However, you should get the matter of the money straight first before going to closing. The nieces have to get it straight with all of you heirs, because they can't close the house without your quitclaim deeds. You have the leverage, so use it. It may take an attorney to make the nieces behave, theyy are showing signs of needing it.

 

[Circon]

Thank you for the quick reply. We spoke with the closing atty. late yesterday afternoon. He is saying the house closing is on wednesday. He said that he is fedXing quit claim deeds to each heir and needs them back by wednesday.

According to the atty. if we don't sign the quit claims all monies received will be made out to "the estate of "C" and that it will then be up to us to get our money from executors. He said he would rather not do that since if the executors do not split the monies, he doesn't want to be sued later on for NOT paying out properly. This makes some sense but at the same time, how does he determine what debts to withold from the house money???

We are trying to get an appointment with our brother's atty. today to see how we should respond. It seems a little strange that the closing has come about very quickly and we are being rushed to sign something without all the facts. Closing atty. indicated with or without quit claims, the closing will go through wednesday. Only difference is that money will be paid into estate and not to each heir.

C's will indicates that an accounting to heirs could be isssued once a year. I think we should see this accounting before closing but I know the executors will balk because they will say it will only delay closing and it has taken 8 months already to get a buyer. Is there anyway they can go ahead and do closing without our signatures???

Based on what you say, they CANNOT close without our signatures and that being the case, we will decline to sign anything until we speak with our lawyer.

Closing atty. indicated the debts withheld from the house will be 10K for realtors fee, 5K for closing costs, and 20K for debts owed on house. Executors sent a letter last fall saying that realtors were given duties to clean the house, wash windows, mow grass, ect. and that those fees would be deducted from house also. We don't know if the realtors 10K includes these fees. The selling price of the house is 152K. We have no idea what other debts C had and no mention was made of C's debts except that her credit cards and other debts were being paid as they came due. No mention from atty. about funeral expenses.

This has gotten much more confusing then we ever thought. It seemed pretty simple in the beginning. Don't know if we will actuallt get an appt. with our own atty right away but it looks like however long it takes we should wait.

Thanks again for the advice..

 

[seniorjudge]

According to the atty. if we don't sign the quit claims all monies received will be made out to "the estate of "C" and that it will then be up to us to get our money from executors.

I am NOT a GA attorney, but this sends up a red flag!

Sounds like they need a deed from the personal representative.

 

[Dandy Don]

You definitely need an attorney for consulting.

The quitclaim deed only applies to your share in the real estate transaction and not in any other part of the estate, so it would seem that there would be no problem in doing that. But don't sign anything without consulting your attorney first.

The problem here is that we can't read the language of the will. You mentioned only the house that is being given to the nieces and stepchildren, but what about other assets in her estate? Are all of the nieces and stepchildren named as beneficiaries? Is the money from the bank accounts passing outside of the estate because she named individual beneficiaries to receive this at the bank? Is the money from the home sale going into the estate, presumably?

Do you think she added the nieces out of kindness and fairness or is it possible that the nieces or someone else could have exerted undue influence on her to include them? Does her signature look genuine and is it (preferably) witnessed by disinterested parties who are not related to her? If you think there was undue influence or if she could have been under influence of medication when signing the will, then you need to give your attorney a copy of the will to have it reviewed to see if it needs to be contested if it is not genuine, although the circumstances you've described seem to indicate that it may be genuine.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[seniorjudge]

...The quitclaim deed only applies to your share in the real estate transaction and not in any other part of the estate, so it would seem that there would be no problem in doing that....

In her will she left our fathers home to us four siblings and 2 of her neices.

Do you know for a fact that real estate in a decedent's estate in GA is conveyed by the heirs instead of via a personal representative's deed?

 

[Circon]

DD

As far as we can tell C had approx. $150K in cash, and there are 4 other nephews, in addition to the 2 neices who are executors, that will share in that. We know there were some other properties that belonged to our Dad that C had sold so I am assuming some of that money in her accounts came from the sale of those. So there are 6 family members on her side that will share the cash and belongings. I don't know how much the insurance policys were or who was named on them. Same goes for CD's or any other assets.

The will reads that:
"I bequeath and devise unto my step children A,B,C,and D, and two neices E and F,the property I own at XXXXX, in fee simple, share and share alike with and equal share, per stripes, to the then living decendants"

The rest of the will goes on to speak of:
"all the rest, residue, and remainder of my property both real and personal and where ever located in fee simple, share and share alike to nieces E and F and nephews G.H.I,and J."

We were never told what other assets she had and were made to understand it didn't concern us. So we have no idea what they will receive. I am assuming that the neices were put on her checking and savings accounts before her death because at the hospital one of the nieces made a huge deal about finding C's checkbook. I do think C was not entirely all there before her death, she was 86 and had many health problems. But we can't and wouldn't really want to persue any legal action. She was not our Mother and we would be happy to recieve what dad wanted us to have. The changes she made to her will including the nieces before her death may have been at their urging but there just isn't any proof and none of us really want to drag this out.

We spoke briefly with our attorney this afternoon and he has advised us that we are NOT responsible for the funeral costs so that's a relief. He said he would look over all the documents we faxed him and let us know something monday or tuesday. In the meantime I called the closing atty. and informed him that WE are not ready to close on the house just yet. I think, as GaAtty said, we should get the matter of the monies straight before we sign our name to anything. We certainly don't want to be sued later on for her debts or funeral expenses.

I am just glad to know we won't have to pay for the funeral and that we DO have a say as to when we are ready to sign paperwork for the closing. No one wants to be rushed into anything without all the information available.

While we didn't have a close loving relationship with her we all did try to help her out by doing maitenance on her house and helping her out with the property taxes each year. And she spent all the holidays with us. I think when she started to decline the neices saw an opportunity and exploited it.

We will just be glad to get this resolved, and all of us are going to go over our own wills with a fine tooth comb now to make sure we made things clear.

Senoir Judge, I am not sure what a personal reprentative is but is that someone other then an executor?? And should C have had one???

I really appreciate the help here. It's an eye opener when you get involved in anyones will and see how sneaky people can be. I'll sleep better now knowing they can't call all the shots!!! Ya'll have a great weekend!

 

[seniorjudge]

In the meantime I called the closing atty. and informed him that WE are not ready to close on the house just yet. I think, as GaAtty said, we should get the matter of the monies straight before we sign our name to anything. We certainly don't want to be sued later on for her debts or funeral expenses.

Excellent move.


Senoir Judge, I am not sure what a personal reprentative is but is that someone other then an executor?? And should C have had one???

"Personal representative" is the generic term for executor, administrator, whatever it is called in your state. If there is an estate opened for her, then there is a personal representative (or, if none is appointed, soon will be).

If there is an estate opened, you can go to the courthouse where the estate is being probated and look at the file. It is public information.