Q: Hello, My mother died & she had a home in the state of FL. My father has not claimed the house & it’s in pre-foreclose.
They were married and I have siblings, they all live in PR. They haven’t done anything in PR or here. My father has 8 kids outside of marriage. House owes around 20k. No one has paid for the house since my mother died. I was paying for it prior to that until the day of her death because my father said he would sell it but has done nothing, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know about it going into foreclosure and when he finds out he won’t want to pay what is owed. He’s always saying he don’t have money. Can I claim the mortgage on the house? My mother passed away on 11/14/2017.
A: A probate proceeding needs to be opened in the county where the house is located in Florida. If the primary probate will be in Puerto Rico this will be an ancilliary administration and the primary needs to be opened first. If a probate is not required for assets in Puerto Rico, then only the Florida probate is needed. In any event you need to talk to an attorney possibly in Puerto Rico and in Florida as soon as possible. If the house is worth more than the mortgage it may be possible to reinstate it. It is possible that you may need to get another mortgage to pay off the existing, but you will first need to have the title changed in order to do this, so again you need to talk to attorneys to assist you with this as soon as possible.
1 user found this answer helpful
A:
Assuming your mother and father were married until she passed, he has standing to bring a probate administration in Florida. That said, you could, as a potentially interested party do the same provided he doesn't object. He would be the beneficiary if your mother had no other children outside of her marriage to your father.
If the home is lost to foreclosure, the bank is only entitled to keep what is owed to them. If there is any "profit" from the foreclosure sale/auction, that goes back to your mother's estate and can be recovered through probate.
Talk to a lawyer asap.
1 user found this answer helpful
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