Q: Can I be held responsible for mortgage obtained on real estate I legally do not own?
Currently selling my home. The title search indicates I only have contract intrest and fee interest is held by original owners heirs (original owner has oassed away since I acquired the property)
I’ve owned this property for 20+ yrs and made mortgage payments so I’m unclear how someone else can own my home.
A:
It's unclear what you are asking. When you buy a home you get a deed at closing and own the home; the person lending money merely has a mortgage (lien) on the property, even if it is seller financed.
If somehow you did this not using an attorney and not a formal closing, it's possible you somehow never got a deed and the original owners owned it this whole time you were paying on the house. It is equally possible 100 other things happened such as the deed was never properly recorded, etc. So you will need to hire an attorney to figure this out.
Terrence H Thorgaard agrees with this answer
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