Q: How do I keep my mom's home after her passing without a will in Alabama?
I am the last surviving child and my mom passed away without a will. I am currently living in her single mobile home on 1.5 acres in Mobile, Alabama, and I am paying the mortgage monthly. My mom's name is on the mortgage and property title, and no other family members have any claim to her property. What do I need to do to keep the home?
A: When someone dies without a will, the estate is settled through the laws of intestate succession. If you were an only child, you are the sole heir if your mother died without a husband. You need a Mobile attorney to help you. The attorney would draft for you a Petition for Letters of Administration. You would need to be bonded (in case you flee to Brazil with money owed to your mother's creditors). When your attorney files the petition, the court would likely issue Letters of Administration fairly quickly. The estate's opening would be advertised in the local paper so that any creditors might make a claim against the estate. If there are debts filed properly against the estate, you must either settle them or object to them. Six months after the estate's opening, you may sign a deed from yourself as Administrator to yourself as heir for the land. Your lawyer should draft the deed. You lawyer should also record the deed. Then your lawyer should close the estate. The land is yours, and the estate is settled.
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