A lot of people think a will does its job the moment someone dies. The will says the house goes to you, so the house is yours. You keep living there, paying the taxes and fixing the roof, and nobody says otherwise. Then years later you try to sell, refinance, or hire a contractor, and […]
The post Living With the Decedent Isn’t the Same as Owning the House: Default and the Muniment of Title Deadline in Estate of Masters appeared first on San Antonio Probate Attorneys.
Family fights over real estate are some of the hardest cases we see. A parent dies, one child ends up with the land, and everyone else is left wondering how that happened. The suspicion is real and sometimes it is justified. But suspecting you were cheated and proving it in court are two very different […]
The post When Heirs Go It Alone: How Briefing Mistakes, Not Probate Law, Decided This Texas Real Estate Fight appeared first on El Paso Probate Attorneys.
A family member has lived in the house for years. Maybe a parent deeded it to someone else along the way. Maybe there was a handshake, or even a signed agreement, about buying it someday. Then the person whose name is on the deed wants the house back, and the family member refuses to go. […]
The post When a Family Member Lives in Estate Property and Refuses to Leave appeared first on San Antonio Probate Attorneys.
Most probate work involves the assets you can see. A house, a bank account, a retirement plan, a stack of savings bonds in a safe deposit box. But some of the most valuable things an estate owns are not things at all. They are promises. A buyer who still owes money on a deal. A […]
The post When the Seller Dies Before the Deal Closes: Membership Interest Sales, Guaranties, and the Estate’s Right to Collect appeared first on El Paso Probate Attorneys.
Inheriting a house can feel like a gift, right up until the bills attached to it start showing up. When someone dies owning a home with an unpaid mortgage, the heirs who step into ownership do not step into a clean slate. The debt rides along with the property. And if those heirs ignore a […]
The post Mortgage After Death: The Texas Statutory Probate Lien and What Heirs Need to Know appeared first on San Antonio Probate Attorneys.
When someone dies unexpectedly, especially in a traumatic accident, a filing deadline buried in the Texas Estates Code is the last thing on the family’s mind. People are grieving. Caregiving duties shift overnight. The paperwork of settling an estate slides to the bottom of the list. And in families where property has passed informally and […]
The post When Life Gets in the Way: Ignorance of the Law, Personal Crisis, and the Four-Year Probate Deadline in Texas appeared first on El Paso Probate Attorneys.
Most people never think about what happens to a mortgage when the borrower dies. The house sits there. The payments stop. And someone—usually a grieving family member who has just been named executor—has to figure out what comes next. For anyone with an informal arrangement tied to that mortgage, the uncertainty can feel like a […]
The post When the Neighbor Who Saved Your Home Dies: Executor Duties, Mortgage Notices, and the Limits of Fiduciary Loyalty in Texas Probate appeared first on El Paso Probate Attorneys.
When a Texas homeowner dies and the mortgage is still outstanding, the debt does not die with the borrower. The lender’s right to foreclose does not die either. What changes is who owns the house. And under Texas law, ownership shifts the instant the homeowner takes her last breath — title passes by operation of […]
The post Mortgage Foreclosure After Death: What Texas Heirs Need to Know appeared first on San Antonio Probate Attorneys.
When a loved one passes away with outstanding debts, someone has to sort through the claims against the estate. Creditors have to follow specific steps to get paid, and the deadlines are strict. Miss a filing window by even one day, and a claim that might otherwise be completely valid can be permanently barred. What […]
The post Miss the 90-Day Deadline to Sue on a Rejected Estate Claim? Your Secured Claim May Be Gone for Good appeared first on El Paso Probate Attorneys.