no will

[cbarron]

My father-in-law passed away several years ago. He had some land and a house in Upshur County, Texas. He was also way behind on his property taxes. My wife and I have since caught up all the back taxes, but are unsure what steps we need to take to get the property in our name.

 

[ALawyer]

With real estate you need to get someone appointed as the Administrator or Personal Representative of the estate and have the court enter an order permiting transfer of the real estate to the heirs at law -- if your wife (his daughter) was his sole survivor, and he had no spouse or other children or grandchildren (other than from your wife) she'd be sole heir and get title.

It's not likely to be a very expensive process for her to to have a lawyer do it, assuming you are not talking about the King Ranch.