Real Estate Legal Questions

Depending on who is buying the property, they may accept a deed from all the heirs. The affidavit of heirship and the deed may be enough for the buyer. If the buyer will not accept that, you may have to file a probate for your dad and your mother. The type of probate you file will depend on whether your dad or mother had Wills or not. You need a probate attorney to resolve the issues you discussed.... Read More

You are not required to sign any contract. However, the seller may require it in order to proceed with the deal. The affiliated business arrangement is merely a disclosure. If you are uncomforatble with the arrangement, then yyou should ask to change service provides. For instance, if the seller's broker is affiliated with the escrow company, you can request to use a different escrow service provider.... Read More

First, you should understand that the neighbor's survey showing they own a 32 ft. strip of the 80 acres does not mean they actually have superior title.  In the type of legal description involved, overlaps in descriptions can easily happen.  Second, the occupancy of the 32 ft., along with the rest of the 80 acres, by the same owner for over 50 years would establish adverse possession in that owner.  The recent deed would not destroy that owner's claim.  Third, in boundary situations like this, acquiescence should also be considered.  It has a lower burden of proof than adverse possession and generally softer rules on tacking.  In any boundary dispute, I would plead both and develop the evidence to see which is more applicable.... Read More

Builders are very busy right now.  It is all too easy for them to put responding to complaints about past work at the bottom of the pile.  Write a letter to the builder referring to the warranty and detailing the problems.  If you send the letter by certified mail, it will establish proof of when you submitted a claim on your warranty. A smart builder will not ignore that. ... Read More

A deed usually conveys just the real property—the land, improvements and things attached to the ground or improvements (like the furnace and built-in appliances).  Most physical personal property is transferred less formally by a bill of sale—less formal because the bill of sale is not recorded anywhere. Vehicles are transferred by title and intangible personal property like shares of stock may have certificates.  The boyfriend’s daughters have a right to call for probating his estate and, as part of that, an inventory of the personal property he owned at his death.  An obvious question is whether the boyfriend left a will.  If so, it will control who gets what.  If not, then the rules of intestacy would favor his children as his heirs.... Read More

If the house is in your brother’s name, he could give or sell it to you.  For a gift, a simple quit claim deed would suffice.   If you plan to invest any significant money in the property, I would recommend getting a title search or title insurance so you can be sure you have clear title.... Read More

The answer turns on whether you have posted the 10K in security and are trying to get it back, or are just being threatened.  If you have security, you are going to have to sue for it.  If you are being threatened, just deny the claims in writing with a certified letter, and do nothing.... Read More

I'm not sure why you would want to set a contract up in this manner, however, if all of the parties who are buying and all of the parties who are selling are clearly delineated in the contract and all of them execute the contract, I suppose it's possible to do and one contract. It would be much easier to have it in two separate contracts for the purposes of title insurance, however, there is no legal requirement that you have separate contracts as long as it's clear who is buying which piece of property and how the obligations and duties flow.... Read More

You should not have signed the deed without getting the money.  Whether it is "legal" depends on what you signed.  You should have had separate counsel.  At this point you need a lawyer to look at the closing and determine what you should get and what you owe.  The lawyer clearly has a conflict, and you should fire the lawyer.... Read More