As long as your sister did not use any community property (that is, money that is considered to belong to both her and her husband together) to maintain or pay for the real estate, then the real estate is your sister's separate property. Her husband would not have a good claim to it. Your sister has legal title to the property. It may be possible to get a court to order that your sister is actually a trustee, who is therefore obligated to use the property for your mother's benefit. It is doubtful that a court would agree with this, so the best solution would be to convince mother and sister to work together.
Answered on May 10th, 2013 at 11:03 AM