Question about house being in the Estate of

Sorry if this is long:

My MIL lives in a house that is under the estate of her mother who passed away probably about 15 years ago and supposedly no one can find the will. The person who did the will is a lawyer son of the deceased (mother in laws brother) who resides in a different state. Many years ago my DH asked his uncle about the will and his uncle told him that his basement flooded and the hard drive that it was stored on was destroyed. We cannot find a will filed anywhere and supposedly he has no hard copy which I find hard to believe.

So now my MIL is telling my DH she doesn’t know how much longer she is going to live , mind you no one told her that she is going to pass away anytime soon. So now my DH was told by one of his cousins that he can put some type of lien on the house ( his mother doesn’t even own it and she is not even on the deed) that he needs to become executor of the estate (the uncle who did the will originally is the executor of the original estate and he pays the taxes and he paid off whatever mortgage was on it)

My husband thinks he has a leg to stand on and I don’t think he does. My MIL owns absolutely nothing. He wants to talk to a lawyer and I think he’s going to be wasting his time.

Does anyone have any insight on this? Again sorry this is so long

Thank you!

Re: Question about house being in the Estate of

I hav absolutely no credible insight to this, but do you think your MIL’s siblings would fight this since it was their mother’s house? I mean usually it is split in equal amounts (excluding the 2% if done for the executor) amongst the next of kin, no?

I would go to a lawyer and have this straightened out sooner rather than later.

Question about house being in the Estate of

Sounds like the uncle who has been paying the taxes need to work this out, if he is the executor of the state. I agree that your DH won't have much to stand on if his mother haa no ownership in the home

Re: Question about house being in the Estate of

He needs an attorney. Even if there was no will there is state law. Someone has been paying the taxes. The home without a will would have an ownership split usuallly between the spouse and children. If the spouse died before she did, then only the kids, how many siblings does your MIL have? They would legally own the home with your MIL if there was no will. Your MIL could also have a life estate in the home. You really need an attorney to sort this out for you.

Question about house being in the Estate of

A house shouldn't be owned by an estate...where is the house? You can pull up a copy of the deed. if your MIL's mother died and her brother was the attorney, he should have transferred the deed upon the death of the mother...they never probated the estate?
If there is no will, the estate would be split equally among MILs' Mother's heirs (husband first, then children, equally). So, your husband may get his mother's share in the house (assuming he has no siblings), but likely isn't entitled to the entire house.