If you are purchasing property & the individual you purchased from has died...does the estate have the legal right to force you to pay the balance?

The estate has the right to expect you to complete the payments only according to the terms of the contract, not sooner. It is unlikely, but possible that the contract allowed for requiring a payoff under this circumstance. Read the contract. Otherwise, the only change should be that you would start making property payments to the estate. However, another option you may not have considered is that the Executor may be willing to negotiate a lesser payoff amount. This might serve to: 1) Reduce your overall purchase price (because you will not be paying interest over the next two and one half years; and 2) Give the estate an immediate amount of cash. If you can afford that, it might be to your long range benefit to consider it. To your success,Gale Allison, Principal AttorneyAllison Firm, PLLCwww.theallisonfirm.comwww.linkedin.com/in/galeallison.com