I need help

[majlee]

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

I am beside myself with this situation. I sold a small piece of property with no buildings on it to a buyer. I sent them the title to the property with the proper seal stamped. I crossed out my mothers name who was a joint owner because she had recently passed away. It seemed like a simple procedure to transfer the property but now I received this email from a lawyer:

This is BV at VM Law Firm contacting you about the sale of the M property to DM. D’s mother and step-father contacted me today saying that they have paid off D’s property because D is in prison. They want to get title to the property in D’s mother’s name. I checked my file and the county recorder’s office. There are a few things that you need to do to be able to transfer clear title to D or his mother.

1. You will need to provide M/V with an updated Abstract of Title to the property. If you get me the Abstract of Title, I can get it updated. That will be at your cost. That is pursuant to Paragraph 12 of your Contract of Sale.

2. You will need to remove your mother’s name from title. If you owned the property in joint tenancy with your mother, you will need to record an Affidavit of Identity and Survivorship for your mother along with a certified copy of her death certificate. If you retain our law firm to prepare the Affidavit of Identity and Survivorship, the cost is $200 to draft that document and $46 to record that document. That is your responsibility as Seller. If you owned it with your mother as tenants in common, you will have to probate your mother’s estate to provide clear title. For some reason, I thought you did own the property as joint tenants, but I am not positive.

3. You will need to have a Warranty deed drafted to C “C” P V from yourself. The cost to draft the Warranty Deed is $110.



If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office.

Is all that V law firm asking required. This is going to cost me money that I don't have at this time and it sounds like a diffecult process to go through all that. Please help.

 

[OK-LL]

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

I am beside myself with this situation. I sold a small piece of property with no buildings on it to a buyer. I sent them the title to the property with the proper seal stamped. I crossed out my mothers name who was a joint owner because she had recently passed away. It seemed like a simple procedure to transfer the property but now I received this email from a lawyer:

This is BV at VM Law Firm contacting you about the sale of the M property to DM. D’s mother and step-father contacted me today saying that they have paid off D’s property because D is in prison. They want to get title to the property in D’s mother’s name. I checked my file and the county recorder’s office. There are a few things that you need to do to be able to transfer clear title to D or his mother.

1. You will need to provide M/V with an updated Abstract of Title to the property. If you get me the Abstract of Title, I can get it updated. That will be at your cost. That is pursuant to Paragraph 12 of your Contract of Sale.

2. You will need to remove your mother’s name from title. If you owned the property in joint tenancy with your mother, you will need to record an Affidavit of Identity and Survivorship for your mother along with a certified copy of her death certificate. If you retain our law firm to prepare the Affidavit of Identity and Survivorship, the cost is $200 to draft that document and $46 to record that document. That is your responsibility as Seller. If you owned it with your mother as tenants in common, you will have to probate your mother’s estate to provide clear title. For some reason, I thought you did own the property as joint tenants, but I am not positive.

3. You will need to have a Warranty deed drafted to C “C” P V from yourself. The cost to draft the Warranty Deed is $110.



If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office.

Is all that V law firm asking required. This is going to cost me money that I don't have at this time and it sounds like a diffecult process to go through all that. Please help.

The law firm is correct that you must provide those things required in your contract to sell. If the contract to sell includes a requirement that you provide evidence of title, that means you have to pay an abstract company to update your exiting abstract of title. This is typically a couple of hundred dollars. You can contact a local abstract company directly to have to update done; they will find the existing abstract by calling the other local abstract companies, they will have it delivered to them, they will update it and call you when it is ready. You can instruct them to send the updated abstract to the buyer's attorney.

In order to provide clear title, you must also eliminate your deceased mother from the title. The attorney is correct that if you owned the property as "joint tenants with rights of survivorship" (it should say this on your deed), an affidavit of surviving joint tenant must be filled out and filed at the county clerk's office. You can usually obtain this form from the county clerk or from the abstractor's office, either free or for a nominal charge. You complete it and record it at the county clerk's office. If you were tenants-in-common, meaning no survivorship rights, then you will have to probate your mother's estate to obtain the right to sell the property, even if you are her sole heir. In many states, some type of truncated probate procedure (may be called a "summary administration") is available for simple estates valued under a certain dollar amount.

A warranty deed must be provided to the Buyer. Again, this is a simple form which can be purchased online or at the abstractor's office for a nominal charge.

You can probably do all of this for the cost of the abstract update, plus less than $100 in purchasing forms and filing fees, assuming no probate is required. Or you can hand it over to the attorney for the cost of the abstract update plus $356, again assuming no probate. It's your choice.

 

[STEPHAN]

I crossed out my mothers name ...

If it was THAT easy, divorce courts would have a lot less to do.


PS: When you post in public forums, you should maybe use subjects that are a little bit more to your problem. Everybody comes here with "I need help".