Houston, TX asked in Civil Litigation and Real Estate Law for Texas

Q: My self and my wife own a property with an in law and now his son is claiming power of attorney with no proof.

We are currently trying to sell the property but we can't get a hold of the in law and his son is the only one who knows where he is none of his family has seen or talked to him in 8 months and now his son claims his father gave him power over his affairs and won't show documents stating the change he just came out of nowhere 6 months ago and is now holding up the sale of the property and demanding 50% of current value even though there is a verbal recorded agreement with his father for 20000 now the house is worth over 100000 due to they money spent by us to make the house liveable everything is on halt and his father has disappeared and we have a baby due in a month and need to sell so we can move we really need help

1 Lawyer Answer
John Cucci Jr.
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Answered

A: You are in a tough position.

I would want to see the deed which gave you and your in-law the property. If the person has Power of attorney they would show it to you. A power of attorney can be rejected by the maker at any time, if that matters here.

While you can sell your interest in the property, unless all the owners sign for the sale of the property, no Title Insurance Company or bank, will authorize the sale of the property. So you can try to sell your interest, which may not be easy to do, or, you can do a search for your in-law, or, file a lawsuit to get the court to allow you to sell and keep a portion for the in-law. The lawsuit would cost you between $5k-$10k.

BTW,

I can find anyone with a system I have to track people. However, very few people have access to such a system.

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