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family friend passed..now what

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cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
A verbal contract can be binding but both parties have to agree to what was contracted. What evidence do you have that a dead man said you could have the house?
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
It doesn't make much sense to keep sending checks to an address where no one responds to confirm if they have ever received the money. Do you normally get a receipt from Mel when you pay on time? Have you checked your bank statements to see if the checks ever clear. Keep the money for future rent payments set aside until whoever is in charge asks you to pay up.

Whoever told you that Mel has a half-brother can't tell you his name or his residential address in Washington? Look up a few people-search websites online and see if you can find him via that method or pay a couple of hundred dollars to a private detective or to a professional genealogist to find Mel's half-brother. Maybe no one has even told this relative about Mel's death yet, and since this relative lives elsewhere he will have to decide if he wants to personally pay an attorney to become the administrator of this estate or whether the estate is large enough for the administrator to be paid out of assets of the estate after the bills are paid.

You really don't have to do anything but wait to see whoever is going to begin managing his estate affairs and eventually send you an eviction notice.

It's a shame that you didn't go ahead and ask Mel to sell the home to you, but it's too late to do anything about that now.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
My ex and I came to his house in 1984....and we rented for 5yrs...starting at $500mo, $525, $550, $575, $600.....then mel asked if we want to buy it at the 5yr mark....we said yes. We are family so he gave us a great deal...we gave him $5,000down.....$875mo, 10% interest. It remained that way until 1997....my husband and I divorced....so starting in June 1997 i started to rent at $750mo...in 2005 mel put the rent up to $800mo and there it remains to this day. We had a verbal agreement, rent would not go up and this would remain my home...period.....do verbal contracts mean nothing in Calif? yes, i am getting a great deal...we are family...that's why...I am not a stranger to mel...i knew him for 41yrs. I still dont see my May or June rent checks being cashed.....after 90 days do i put a stop payment on them? I dont understand why the brother has not opened probate? Mel had so much property, at the home a block away, he has 5 cars there, 4 in the backyard, that home was given to him and it just sits there for 8yrs now....I dont know...I will have to wait and see what happend. I know you say I am entitled to nothing, but I was family by marriage, in my home 35yrs, mel and me and my daughter were lifelong friends.....and we did have a verbal contract. I will be taking that car of his I have and parking it at the house a block away in the driveway, along side his BMW! thanks for the input....i just feel odd mailing a check to a house no one is at any longer...not sure if it has a forwarding address, i tried to call the post office but they said they could not even find the address! I said he has lived there for 40yrs!! I will go over there and ask...its a cluster mailbox, so i guess if the mail person sees the mail stacking up...they would return to sender? i just dont know...guess I have to just wait it out!
Unless there was a recorded real estate contract for you to purchase the house, you have NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL. Statute of frauds prevents you from having a claim.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
A verbal contract can be binding but both parties have to agree to what was contracted. What evidence do you have that a dead man said you could have the house?
Real estate is under the statute of frauds. Therefore it is NOT binding. Real estate transactions need to be written.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Yes, you should put a stop payment on the checks.

Don't give up just yet. In view of the fact that the condition of the house is not perfect, you can nicely ask the executor or administrator if they would sell the home to you.
 
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Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Yes, you should put a stop payment on the checks.

Don't give up just yet. In view of the fact that the condition of the house is not perfect, you can nicely ask the executor or administrator if they would sell the home to you.
If a stop payment is put on the checks that could harm the argument they have been paying rent
 
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