Grandma gifted homes to uncle before he died. Grandma has died. Who gets homes?

[kimmy007]

BALONEY

And you are doing it wrong ...get the facts as printed in the relevant deeds!!

THe distribution rules are in the law...your uncles daughter's views have the strength of wet toilet paper.

Get off your lazy fanny and you file to administer things under the intestacy rules ...sometimes the rules give a preference to filing first and sometimes they do not...and I don't know about LA...but seemingly you would NOT want Uncles daughter in charge ..therefore at the very minimum , get in official line ahead of her, pronto.

I appreciate your response. It's not that I'm being lazy or anything like that. My grandmother just passed the other day, and my sister and I have never had to deal with anything like this. Right now, my sister and I are trying to figure out what steps to take next. A family member suggested that we do a succession.

So if it sounds to you as though I'm being "lazy", I'm not. My sister has copies of the deeds, and I don't. She lives in Louisiana, and I live in Texas. She knows as much as me, which is not very much. And I won't see the deeds until I go down for the funeral. The whole reason we're trying to figure out what to do right now, is because, knowing my cousin, she will try and do everything she can to cut out as many people as possible. She's already starting to clean out my grandmother's main home, thinking she's going to just move right in, regardless of what we say.

And by the way, I've never heard of intestacy rules until now. There's a lot we don't know, and that's why I came here with my initial question. But I do appreciate your advice and will definitely look into what you're suggesting ASAP. Thank You!

 

[kimmy007]

Has nobody opened probate?

We haven't done anything yet, Zigner. She just passed the other day.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I appreciate your response. It's not that I'm being lazy or anything like that. My grandmother just passed the other day, and my sister and I have never had to deal with anything like this. Right now, my sister and I are trying to figure out what steps to take next. A family member suggested that we do a succession.

So if it sounds to you as though I'm being "lazy", I'm not. My sister has copies of the deeds, and I don't. She lives in Louisiana, and I live in Texas. She knows as much as me, which is not very much. And I won't see the deeds until I go down for the funeral. The whole reason we're trying to figure out what to do right now, is because, knowing my cousin, she will try and do everything she can to cut out as many people as possible. She's already starting to clean out my grandmother's main home, thinking she's going to just move right in, regardless of what we say.

And by the way, I've never heard of intestacy rules until now. There's a lot we don't know, and that's why I came here with my initial question. But I do appreciate your advice and will definitely look into what you're suggesting ASAP. Thank You!

This needs to be stopped. This is not the way things are (legally) done. Things have to be inventoried and accounted for. (A few small things are one thing.) Also, bank accounts need to be frozen before your cousin empties them out.

 

[kimmy007]

This needs to be stopped. This is not the way things are (legally) done. Things have to be inventoried and accounted for. (A few small things are one thing.) Also, bank accounts need to be frozen before your cousin empties them out.

We do agree with you that it needs to be stopped. My sister is holding my grandmother's driver's license, and my cousin just asked for it yesterday. She didn't say what she wanted it for, and now we're a little suspicious. This is why we were thinking that by doing a succession, that would solve everything. But I'm speaking with my sister today, and will pass along some advice that I've gotten here so far. Thanks!

 

[Zigner]

We do agree with you that it needs to be stopped. My sister is holding my grandmother's driver's license, and my cousin just asked for it yesterday. She didn't say what she wanted it for, and now we're a little suspicious. This is why we were thinking that by doing a succession, that would solve everything. But I'm speaking with my sister today, and will pass along some advice that I've gotten here so far. Thanks!

I don't know what you mean when you say "...thinking about doing a succession... ". That's the ONLY way this can be handled, legally speaking.

(FYI for others: "Succession" in Louisiana is called "probate" in other states.)

 

[HRZ]

Get her to read first page of each deed..it may list owners as say Wilbur Jones and Mary Jones as joint tenants with right of survivor ....post it back , less exact names ...should be a major clue.

Succession is mandatory if you want to move the ball forward.

IT is approximately 6 times as hard and costly to get a squatter / tenant OUT as it is not to let them in in the first place .

THe steps to get a proper administrator in place can start TODAY ..and short of shooting trespassers , the administrator can take steps as official person in charge to protect the estate assets.

"we" have no official say in things...the law vests that power with official administrator .

PS while it is possible for administrator to leverage a family raider to return everything , it is a whole lot,smarter and reliable not to permit raids by any tools not illegal to,use.

 

[Just Blue]

I don't know what you mean when you say "...thinking about doing a succession... ". That's the ONLY way this can be handled, legally speaking.

(FYI for others: "Succession" in Louisiana is called "probate" in other states.)

Ahhh...Thanks. I assumed there was a Dukedom to be sorted out!!

 

[HRZ]

OP?..Succession as it is called in LA seems to require that named administrator either be an LA resident or use services of somebody resident in LA ..pick the right person first time!

THe priority of whomgets to serve is first to spouse , next tomadult children ...and I do NOT know where next ..

BUt your pick better be in there and SHUT UP. WHy , because it's a short window and if nobody else gets there, your pick is in....and if you snooze while Uncles child gets there first .. ZAPPO the fox is in charge of the henhouse .

 

[kimmy007]

I don't know what you mean when you say "...thinking about doing a succession... ". That's the ONLY way this can be handled, legally speaking.

(FYI for others: "Succession" in Louisiana is called "probate" in other states.)

Thanks, Zigner. Sorry, but I wasn't aware that they were the same. My sister and my cousin were in agreement, just the other day, that we would go ahead and do a succession. For some reason, my cousin was thinking that this would only include me, her, and my sister. But when she found out that we'd have to include all of her father's offspring, she got angry and decided against it. I know, it makes no sense. She's bent on getting everything of her father's and keeping her other half-siblings from getting anything. And now that she knows my sister and I still want to move forward with this, she is trying to block everything. She hates her sisters and they hate her. It's really a sad situation we have here. We even have a buyer for my grandmother's main home already, but she is now saying that grandma didn't want her to sell the home.

The interested buyer is the man (also a friend of my grandmother) who owns the funeral home, which sits just across the street from my grandmother's house. And yes, he's also taking care of her funeral for darn near free. He asked both my sister and cousin just the other day about purchasing the home. They both happily agreed. Then that's when she found out about having to split the money with her siblings. Then she exploded! It's just crazy, I tell you. We never imagined it would be like this.

Oh well, I didn't really mean to go into all that. But everyone is in agreement except her. But anyway, thanks for letting me know this.

 

[Zigner]

How do you (all) expect to be able to sell a house you don't own without proceeding with the succession process? It must be done. It doesn't matter if she wants to...

 

[HRZ]

OP...your Uncles daughter is totally misinformed ...IF factually those were JTWROS deeds Uncle with His mother .
( call sis and find out )

Daughter gets ZERO out of house equation from Dad, Dad's undivided portion went back to GM ...they could have done things differently but apparently they did not.

Appointed representative under succession pretty much calls the shots, and has full say in getting things sold ..if the estimated value of one home is say $90,000 and she wants to buy it and has funds to do so ...it's probable that a modest discount is in the cards IF the sale proceeds wo a realtors commission in the mix...but she needs to pony up money and or get a mortgage . THe administrator is charged with doing a good job with the pot in thier care ....not cutting sweet deals with some family members and not allowing cherry picking scavenger hunts by any particular person.

Let's say the representative liquidates everything for 180,000, the bills and taxes get paid as well as modest fee to representative.. , let's say that's net of 125,000 ...that gets split among GMs heirs exactly as the rules in LA law say to do it ..Uncles daughter gets her share of that pot . if GM was on any Medicaid or daughter was on welfare there might be other things to pay in there .

 

[HRZ]

OP the rules for who gets what share in LA are on line under intestate succession and very mechanical and follow the family tree...lay it out ..

Ig the grabber is Uncles only child she inherits in her fathers plce ----if father was to get 1/3 from GM she gets 1/3 , If Uncle had 3 kids...she gets 1/9 ....after the bills get paid and nobody gets clean title to home until administrator sorts it out properly **************and offer to buy it before things are clean suggest buyer may be thing he or she can get it cheap ---BE CAREFUL.. it may be OK --but thats for administrator to decide NOT a vote among the grabbing hands .

BTW if administrator lets some family move in ...the administrator best have the gumption to collect reasonable rents and be able to get them out promptly if they forget to pay or needed to be for sale (and or only rent to family whose probable share is big enough to cover most anything . ..My vote is it is often easier to sell an empty home than one with an unhappy occupant in it .

 

[LdiJ]

OP the rules for who gets what share in LA are on line under intestate succession and very mechanical and follow the family tree...lay it out ..

Ig the grabber is Uncles only child she inherits in her fathers plce ----if father was to get 1/3 from GM she gets 1/3 , If Uncle had 3 kids...she gets 1/9 ....after the bills get paid and nobody gets clean title to home until administrator sorts it out properly **************and offer to buy it before things are clean suggest buyer may be thing he or she can get it cheap ---BE CAREFUL.. it may be OK --but thats for administrator to decide NOT a vote among the grabbing hands .

BTW if administrator lets some family move in ...the administrator best have the gumption to collect reasonable rents and be able to get them out promptly if they forget to pay or needed to be for sale (and or only rent to family whose probable share is big enough to cover most anything . ..My vote is it is often easier to sell an empty home than one with an unhappy occupant in it .

And, the faster the administrator gets appointed by the court the faster the administrator can change the locks to the house to prevent someone just moving in and making things more difficult.

 

[HRZ]

If a reliable person gets there like tomorrow morning they may be able to take a photo inventory of many items and put discrete marks on some ...which may provide some help to cool down sticky fingered family and or records to assist soon to be appointed administrator to gather stuff back up---it may be 60% theater --but that's better than zero.

One might get useful suggestions for a lawyer doing estate work daily or law enforcement about how one might secure property against vandals --in a small town one might get a few free suggestions via polite questions ..Most attorney do not give out free time...but one can ask . hey, if this escalates somebody will need to pay for service --and attorney may guess at that. My local police department will put properties with vandalism issues on a watch list upon request --perhaps local one will too. Its going to be hard for any person inside to prove they were an invited or authorized guest of a dead person And they may be unwilling to test the point if they are warned about police patrols for intruders)