Q: My father recently passed and had a TIC Property with my stepmother. Who is responsible for mortgage
Property owned TIC by father and stepmother. Father dies. House sells for 600k with 200k Mortgage. Is mortgage responsibility of Entire estate, or is wife solely responsible?
I.e. should we pay mortgage from the 600k and then divide the remainder to my stepmother and my fathers heirs. Or should the 600k be divided to my stepmother and the heirs, and then stepmother pays entire mortgage. Mortgage was taken out jointly between my stepmother and my father?
A: The mortgage is a lien against the property. It cannot be sold without the mortgage being paid off first out of the sale proceeds. That happens at settlement. Then the net proceeds are split evenly between the two owners of the property: 50% to the estate, 50% to your stepmother
Cedulie Renee Laumann agrees with this answer
A:
Since your fact pattern includes that the mortgage was signed by both parties, the mortgage belongs to both parties, and your father's estate is responsible for his half in a tenancy in common. In any event, the closing agent is going to pay off the mortgage at closing and disburse the balance to the two sellers, one of which is the estate.
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