Q: How long can a home remain in a deceased persons name?
My grandmother died several years ago leaving 2 houses paid for. How Is it possible for a house to still be in her name today, and with a loan on it in her name as well? The properties were inherited by her one surviving daughter who did not want either of them in her name (she had an automobile accident causing injury and owes restitution) She apparently had them skip her and go straight to her own daughter.
A:
This sounds like two things:
- An obvious attempt to cheat the system re: someone they harmed;
- Some sort of potential sour grapes on the part of the asker, who, by the fact pattern, had zero interest in either of the properties, leaving it unclear as to why the question is being asked.
IF the asker has some other interest or it's just academic, s/he should sit down with an attorney with all facts and all documents and pay the attorney for their input. Good luck with it!
Nina Whitehurst agrees with this answer
A: The answer will depend on two things: (1) whether your grandmother had a trust, a will, or neither; and (2) how the real estate was titled, i.e., joint tenants, tenancy in common, etc. If your grandmother had a trust, the trust would include the name of the "trustee," who is the person responsible for handling all of the trust's assets, including real estate titled in the name of the trust. The trustee must handle the trust's assets exactly as the terms of the trust terms require. If your grandmother had a will or nothing at all, her estate would likely need to go through a year-long probate court process in order to change the title to a new person's name -- unless the real estate was titled as joint tenancy. When real estate is in joint tenancy, upon the death of one person (joint tenant), the property ownership automatically reverts 100% to the other joint tenant (assuming there are only two joint tenants to begin with.) I hope that helps!
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