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Need Help with a Will with no Executor Please

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Hello,

I have an estate issue and I’d tremendously appreciate any insight.

My parents both made wills in 1989 naming me as sole beneficiary after their passing “item #3” on the simple, one-page wills; I do have a sister who has not been much of a daughter to my parents since she left home in her late teens. My beloved father passed in August and my dear mother passed in my arms on Wednesday. I had been care-giving my father since 4/18 - 8/19 and my mother emotionally since day one and physically since 4/19 as she fell and became 100% dependent both by myself with no help 24/7. I am wholly devastated and still in shock about my mother’s completely unexpected passing. In preparation to secure my living situation today, I just discovered that I do not appear as executor of the two wills, although I am the sole beneficiary.

Back in 2008 my wonderful and beloved parents took out a mortgage on a home in which I have been living to date, as I could not qualify at the time due to a horrendous business dissolution and the accompanying abysmal credit (I paid the mortgage monthly however). Just before, I had to give up a home I’d purchased just 2.5 years earlier due to said devastating dissolution; my amazing parents felt for me and wanted me to have a home again. At the time when my parents took the mortgage about which I am referring, we collectively considered that someday the property could also serve as a residence for them should they become disabled – under my sole care; such had been the case over the last two years.

My father made me sole beneficiary of his life insurance with the expectation that I would take care of mom and purchase the home for my future security. Late last month I paid off the mortgage (low 6 figures) using some of the insurance money with the anticipation of the local abstract / title company to do a “deed only” transfer as the proprietor was able to title search through her network; the property had a clean title. The abstract woman told me to email her the receipt of pay-off and my information and she told me she would do the transfer within two weeks after obtaining signature from my then living mother. Somehow the abstract woman dragged her feet (the computers are down, yada yada) and didn’t complete the process before my dear mother’s passing.

As a generous attorney told me quickly over the phone today, I would need to go the surrogate’s office in the county where the wills were drawn and apply for estate administration. The problem is that I just paid off the mortgage in full and the home is now an unencumbered asset, which could end up liquidated to pay off all of my parent’s considerable debts. I fear I will lose both the home and my 100,000+ cash to paying their debts once the estate admin rights are granted. I desperately called the mortgage holder and requested a refund. I was told it was possible, a work order was initiated and I would receive a letter in about two weeks letting me know whether it is doable and what to do next; it seemed to be positive.

If the refund is doable (I am uncertain as the loan agent at the mortgage company told me the recorder’s office was already notified about the payoff) I will simply resume paying the monthly mortgage by phone and again pay off the balance after it can be bequeathed to me.

Is there anything I can do to protect myself in either case:

(1) I cannot get the pay-off refund.
(2) I get the refund and resume mortgage payments. Will liens be placed on the property or will I be forced to pay any of my parent’s debt in accepting the mortgaged home (primary residence now)???

Thanks for any help so much!
Steve M.
 


adjusterjack

Senior Member
Please accept my condolences on the death of your parents.

As a generous attorney told me quickly over the phone today, I would need to go the surrogate’s office in the county where the wills were drawn and apply for estate administration.
You, or he, must have misunderstood something in the conversation. Where your parents lived and owned property is where the probate has to occur. If the home is in PA you open probate in PA. Regardless of how things turn out you have to do that anyway to become representative of the estate before you can do anything with the estate's assets.

I desperately called the mortgage holder and requested a refund. I was told it was possible, a work order was initiated and I would receive a letter in about two weeks letting me know whether it is doable and what to do next; it seemed to be positive.
I've never heard of any lender returning a payoff after a loan has been retired so I'd be surprised if it happens. I could be wrong but if it doesn't happen here are your choices (that I can think of, there may be others):

Sell the house to pay the debts and keep your $100,000 (the debts have to be paid before you get the house).

Use your $100,000 to pay the debts and keep the house.

Which is more important to you? Keeping the cash or keeping a house that's paid for?
 
How will I sell the house if I don't own it (before debts are settled)?
The 100,000 is already applied to the mortgage balance. How can I use it to pay the debt if it's already gone?
The plan was that I would have both the money and the house; had the abstract woman done her job as she promised, I would be in completely different circumstances.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
How will I sell the house if I don't own it (before debts are settled)?
The 100,000 is already applied to the mortgage balance. How can I use it to pay the debt if it's already gone?
The plan was that I would have both the money and the house; had the abstract woman done her job as she promised, I would be in completely different circumstances.
Once the court appoints you as the administrator of the estate you would sell the house as the administrator of the estate. The proceeds would go into a bank account for the estate, and you would pay the debts using the cash. I am very sorry for your loss.
 
Thank you for both for your sentiments and replies.

I'd spoken with an estate attorney by phone earlier and it sadly seems that I must indeed sell the house. I am going to wait the two weeks and see if the lender will actually provide a refund as I am not the homeowner and the payment was made essentially in error. Thereafter, I will decide as how to proceed.

The attorney explained to me that should I not receive a payoff refund, I can ask the court to allow the payoff money to be returned to me after the sale as equity I'd put into the property; I should not be financially penalized for my parent's debts on a property not belonging to me. Further, the attorney added that I could also claim equitable credit for the work I'd done on the house while residing in it for 11 years (30K + in materials alone) and possibly the lengthy care-giving I'd provided as well. Of course, the latter two equity claims will be up to the judge or state court as the attorney advised. I will confer with an attorney in-person this coming week to discuss all options; however I may postpone said meeting until I receive the reply from the lender.

If I am unable to convince the debt holders to meaningfully reduce their balances and/or offered substantial equitable credits, I see no point in going through the tedious selling and vacating to "broom swept" condition process unless my 127K payoff money is at stake. There will not be any meat left on the proverbial bone after the home's sale. I would also have to keep the P.I.T.I. paid for all those months - not cheap.

If I am not mistaken, I needn't accept the administrator / executor responsibility if I stand to gain bupkiss and I will simply take what I can U-Haul and head West.
 
Adjusterjack: "I've never heard of any lender returning a payoff after a loan has been retired so I'd be surprised if it happens." Be surprised my friend; the lender replenished the funds to my bank account overnight. Thank God!!!

I do have one last question, if someone wouldn't mind taking a stab at it.

An attorney with whom I'd conferred by phone advised me to seek equity reimbursement for money/work/care-giving, etc (substantial sum) I'd invested into the home through the courts should I be granted and accept the role of estate executor. I won't go into great details as to the specifics to keep it short.

Would the sum of court granted equity reimbursement go to me (the beneficiary of the aforementioned property) first after sale of the home, or will the creditors get "first dibs" and my reimbursement will only be that which remains? Although the home is lovely, sits on a full acre and it is in move-in condition, the property values in this area haven't climbed much since I'd renovated the home back in 2008. If the courts were to grant me even close to my actual invested equity - once the mortgage were paid off, there'd be nothing left to pay the creditors. Inversely the same would apply if the creditors were first in line. Unless I stand to gain more than what I already have from the life insurance, I see no point in accepting the role of executor. Hard and heartbreaking as it will be to leave my beloved home of 11 years, it only makes sense to simply disregard the will and when the sheriff comes knocking - leave.

Did I miss anything?

Thanks again to all who assisted me in this unbelievably difficult and dark time in my life - thank you.
 

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