Father passed away and mother is still alive but house is in father's name. How can we get the house in her name?

[tjoh673]

What is the name of your state? Michigan
My father passed away about 15 years ago and my mother is still alive but the house loan is in my father's name. My mom has been paying the loan for the past 15 years. The loan company sent a check paid to the order of the estate of my father's name. How can my mother 1. cash the check? 2. get the house in her name?

 

[adjusterjack]

How can my mother 1. cash the check? 2. get the house in her name?

It's called probate. Which your mother should have done 15 years ago.

She goes to court and becomes representative of your father's estate, follows the proper procedure, and when probate is completed, she can deed the house from the estate to herself.

That's overly simplified of course so she might want to see a probate lawyer and get some help.

Meantime, google Michigan probate and you'll find several sources with helpful information.

 

[justalayman]

You have a bit of a problem even with probate though. The name on the loan won’t change unless your mother can assume the loan. Probate can only be opened for a limited time so while probate may be the answer thus time, it won’t remedy the loan issue should anything similar happen in the future.


Before doing anything else, you need to know, precisely, how title to the property was held. If it was as joint tenants or as tenancy by the entirety, it wouldn’t require probate to alter the names on title to the home. This won’t fix the loan issue but it would allow title to be transferred.

 

[xylene]

Don't do anything without legal help.

This should not have been ignored for so long, so now this is definitely not a DIY project.