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How safe is it to purchase a home in which the contract is signed by a poa and the home is part of a trust? The owner is apparently incapacitated. Should a doctors certification of incapacitation be included? I'm the potential buyer and don't want to lose the home some years down the road due to fraud.
1 ANSWER
Your closing attorney should review a copy of the trust agreement to make sure the trustee has a power of sale over real estate. At closing, the POA must provide an affidavit that the POA remains in full force and effect, unrevoked. This is a transaction where you will definitely want to buy owner's title insurance, but with a review of the trust and the POA by a real estate attorney, you should be as safe as in any other transaction. If you are paying a fair price, not a bargain basement type thing, and if you have no personal connection to the POA, there should be no worries about a claim of fraud.
Answered on Aug 23rd, 2014 at 4:06 AM