Probate Court Question

[Pookieray]

Any of our message board attorneys have knowledge of how probate works? I have a contract on some land and the owner passed away without a will before we could close on the deal.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

Don't ask Henderson about late inning relief to close the deal.

 

[dawglawz]

Hopefully the owner had a small family who gets along well with each other.

 

[Pookieray]

Well, they are all in agreement to sell. So no issues with that.

 

[goindhoo]

It’s not a big deal if you have an experienced attorney to handle the estate. You can purchase the property within 30 days if attorney knows what he is doing. If you around the pine belt let me know.

 

[Shmuley]

How is the property titled?

 

[Pookieray]

It was titled in the mothers name and a portion of it in a daughters name. There atty is handling the probate, my atty says it has to have a clean title to close the deal.

the property is in DeSoto Co. but the probate is in Memphis. She lived there.

 

[Pookieray]

It's a 26 acre plot but only 3 acres were titled to the lady that has passed away. I checked the status of the proceedings through the website of the probate court and said a bond was set and that accounting has to be made???? it has two dates listed for that Aug of 2019 and Aug of 2020? Does that mean we are stuck until that time. Was told they were going to put something in a trust?

 

[patdog]

Not an attorney, but if the property was titled joint tenants with rights of survivorship, you should be ok. Otherwise, I think you’ll need an order from the judge authorizing you to sell the property. It shouldn’t take a year, but maybe a few months.

 

[Shmuley]

Obviously no one can give you much help on a forum without access to documents. I noticed someone above suggested that it would be easy, perhaps a 30 day deal. Apparently it escaped their notice that you said the probate is pending in Shelby County, TN, and the property you’re trying to acquire is in DeSoto County, MS. This ain’t no 30 day deal, bruh. I think your first step is to ask yourself if the property is valuable enough to you to wait out the process and likely spend money on legal advice and counsel to get it handled correctly. If you move forward with the purchase, and regardless of how much you end up spending on a lawyer to help you get the title right, three words, “owner’s title insurance.”

 

[Pookieray]

The answer to both your questions Rabbi is yes!
Hard to find land in DeSoto for a decent price. I've got a good local Bulldawg atty going to handle my side of the deal once it gets out of probate. And, no I knew it wasn't a 30 day process as it's been going on since late Dec.