My mom and dad bought land back in the 80s . The land was always in my fathers name only. They divorced some 10 years ago , but still lived together on the land in a small double wide that my mom worked and purchase around 1990. Moms divorce decree states that the land was to go to her . She never went and got it changed over to her name. My dad passed away last year and we are wanting to help her get the land transferred over to her name . As she wishes to sell the land to me and my wife. How do we go about doing this ?
Please accept my condolences on the loss of your father.
As for your question, if your mother has a court order or divorce decree that says the land was to have been transferred to her, but the land never was transferred to her, then she is effectively a creditor of your father's estate. You (or someone else) will likely need to get appointed as the Executor or Administrator of your father's estate, get the estate administration started, and, assuming that the land does not need to be liquidated in order to pay creditors that have higher-priority claims than your mother's claim (she would be an unsecured creditor with a lower priority than certain other creditors), eventually turn the property over to your mother in satisfaction of her creditor claim. The rest of the estate, if there is any, can then be distributed to the beneficiaries or heirs.
Get the help of an experienced probate attorney if you want to take on the estate administration. It's not a good do-it-yourself project. Best wishes to you and your family.
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