Will from dead aunty….?
Ok this is the situation. My great aunty passed away some long years ago and she didnt have a will. But she did have a Codicil to the last will and testament. She gave her house to my grandfather and some other family members. My grandpa has been the one paying the property taxes and living at the resident. But now we are trying to put my name on the house but how can we? My aunty said she has the orignal paper work for the house but said she cant find it. I do have a copy of the Codicil. The property is located in Cleveland, Oh. None of the other family members want the house. So can you help in advice??? Thanx in advance…
Check the codicil carefully, usually there is info for the lawyer who drew it up. To create a codicil, you have to have a will, so he should probably still have a file, even if it is somewhere back in the dusty basement with a copy.
Even if you cant find it at this point, you probably wont get too much of a fight. You will need to have a title search anyway which will lead you to copies of the deed. You need to try to dig up copies of her death certificate and if others are on the deed, theirs as well. Usually they are filed with the County Heath Department or some Department of Records. If there was an estate filed with the court, any of that you can dig up will help the title company clear up the title as much as possible.
Even though this should be an easy exchange, the title issues could drive you batty, so getting a real estate attorney that also does probate/estates would be the best way to go and he can lead you through the process much easier than you trying to do it all yourself. I would get the attorney first and see if he might have a title company that he works with a lot so that things are even easier and he doesnt have to try to work with a company he isnt familiar with.
Although this seems complicated to you, it is really not a really rare thing for real estate and estates and trusts law firms, I think I come across probably about 3-4 every year where the all official owners have passed away and the family isnt completely sure where everything is at.