Q: Neighbor died and house sat empty 2 years. Storm hits and tree falls on house. House is now in probate. How to buy?
House is unsalvigable, asbestos siding, 100 years old, etc. The sister of the deceased tells me it's in probate. There is 19k owed in medical bills and property taxes from what I can gather.
Essentially,
The land is worth 20-30k.
There's 20k in med bills owed.
The house will cost 10-30k to demolished (estimated)
I spoke to the sister about making her an offer and she says she would let me know when she knows something but based on all the issues, I'm thinking it will be a huge headache but would really like to obtain the land and add to my land so knowone builds a new home and rents it out (typical for area).
What can I do to try to speed up the process and be fair to the sister at the same time? I search probate attorney but think I'm finding ones that would more or less represent the assumed owner. Is there a particular attorney or term for the situation I'm in?
A:
Probate is a court proceeding by which someone applies to court to be appointed "personal representative" (also known in some places as "executor") of the estate of the decedent (your late neighbor, for example). The PR's job is to dispose of the assets (such as the house) and paying the proceeds or conveying the assets themselves to the heir or heirs.
Any attorney could help you with this. It's simply a matter of negotiating a deal with the personal representative of the probate estate.
A: You would need a real estate attorney. There is nothing you can do to speed up the process ect as you are not an heir. The sister of the deceased apparently has a probate attorney so if you hire a real estate attorney to negotiate for you that will help to navigate the issues as best as possible.
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