So my grandmother in Ohio passed away in July 2012. We believe she left her home to my Aunt, but she never had the house put in her name. So we think house was willed from grandmother to my Aunt. My Aunt never had house or deed changed, so the house still remains in my grandmother's name. My Aunt passed away in December 2021 and we don’t think she has a will, at least one has not been filed nor has one been found. I had to go back home to Ohio because of family matters and I decided to go by the house which is now vacant because my Aunt passed away. I was doing research on the home and found that taxes are owed and lien had been sold. I went on and paid the back taxes so no one can snag the house from our family. My Aunt has 2 daughters that I would think house would go to. My grandmother still has one surviving child which is my dad. Since house was never taken out of grandma’s name will the home now go to him since the child she willed home to never did a name transfer, or is it possible the house will go to my cousins (where it should go) because the home was originally willed to their momma? The home has been in our family more than 50 years and surely didn’t want it to be foreclosed on due to owed taxes. My dad has dementia but the night his wife collapsed and was put on life support he disappeared and when found he was trying to get to the family home. He obviously can’t live there on his own. My Aunt's children live in Louisiana. Well the one already lived there and when her mom passed in December she chose to take on the responsibility of her special needs sister and moved her there with her. Seems regardless of the way we go, the house will now have to be fixed/repaired/ because with it being vacant someone broke in, took all valuables and did some hefty damage. Whoever gets home can do what’s necessary and then either sell it or rent it. Heartbreaking either way. Just trying to figure out what steps need to be taken next.
The deed should be on file at the County seat. That will show who is on the deed. Whose names were the tax bills in. If your Aunt, then she is on the deed. If grandmom, Aunt is not on the deed. Also, at the County seat is a copy of grandmoms Will if probated.
This is how I THINK this may work if grandmoms Will was never Probated. It now will need to be probated. That will show Aunt inherited the house. Maybe at that time the deed can be changed to her name. Now if Aunt did not have a Will, someone will need to become Administrator to carry out the responsibilities of an Executor, difference, the State steps in and determines who inherits and that probably will be Aunts daughters. As a niece and if cousin does not contest, you can be administrator.
IMO if a lawyer had been involved with probate, he would have seen that the deed was changed. My lawyer, who helped with settlement, rewrote Moms deed to show the new owner.
I think you will need a lawyer. But since you are a niece and she has children, you really have no interest in this. Dad either. Just because Aunt died, does not mean Dad gets the house. She has children. You may need to get POA from your cousins to be able to handle anything concerning your Aunt. You should not be going thru her things unless your cousin gave permission. But you can go to the County seat to get deed and Will info. They are public record. I would also place a lien on the home for the money you spent for taxes. That way if the house is sold you get ur money back. Just be aware, that if Aunt ends up legally owns the house, the decision on what happens to it falls to your cousins. You have no say.
What happened to your dads home now that he has moved in with sister?
How old is dad?
A quick peak at intestate inheritance for Ohio indicates GMs house would pass to your dad 1/2 and your deceased aunts heirs 1/2 (assuming those were GMs only two children).
Before you spend anymore money, consider a certified elder law attorney for the state of Ohio to advise the family on best next steps.
With the handicapped cousin and your dad needing care, medicaid eligibility should be of primary concern.
If your dad has a home of his own to dispose of, that will also have to be managed correctly in order for him to qualify for Medicaid should/when he need it.
Inherited property could cause problems for both dad and your handicapped cousin who may already be receiving Medicaid?
Good luck working this out.
If no will found, prob be split evenly between GM's direct children still living.
It is reasonable that if only one left living, they get 100%.
But also reasonable to go equal share for ALL her children with Aunt's share then being split equaly & handed down to her direct children.
What's fair? What's reasonable? What was expected? All good questions.
But then there is: What is the law?
I hope it works out to the satisfaction of all the key parties.
I suspect that your aunt’s daughter, living in another state and caring for her special needs sister, is not willing to take on such a project. Are you? If so, you need to start by doing two things. Figure out who most likely owns the house and figure out what it is worth.
If your grandmother had no will and no spouse her property would go through probate and be inherited by her children at her death, your father and your aunt (assuming no other children alive at her death). Likewise your aunt’s half would most likely would go to her two daughters (if no will, no spouse, and no other children). So, two rounds of probate to deal with that half. You could petition the appropriate court to appoint you as your grandmother’s representative and later your aunt’s. There would be expenses, which you would hope to be reimbursed for, you could ask to be compensated for your time, you could try to be retroactively compensated for the tax lien payoff…
Unless you get lucky and one or both of the grandmother and aunt had other, hopefully cash, assets to go into probate to cover the expenses, you are probably going to end up selling the house to get the cash to pay all of these expenses, so it won’t be staying in the family. You may end up asking the court to allow you to advance funds to the estate and hope that you get paid back. Depending on the area, there may be a low bidder buyer for such a distressed home, Or maybe you are an experienced house flipper and see value in investing more effort and money into the project.
If your father has dementia, does he have a POA? If so, that would be the person responsible for handling his half of any proceeds. Their fiduciary duty would require that the funds be used for his benefit. If Medicaid is involved they would expect to know about his inheritance as part of the application process, and definitely when any cash comes to him. If no Medicaid, then the money might eventually go to you as his heir (POA should default to his will’s beneficiaries), if so you could gift it to your aunt’s daughters at that point.
Back to what it is worth. Start by looking up recently sold homes on Zillow and their competitors. Do a rough guess on fix up costs and then triple that number if you haven’t done something like this recently.
I suppose you could hire a property manger to rent it out if you could get the cousins and your father’s POA on board and there was enough income to service the debt and ongoing expenses. Even if the POA document allows this, it sounds like a really bad idea because it is really hard to have three long distance landlords agree on anything, e.g., how to pay for new roof, what if bad tenants damage it and/or stop paying rent, what if one needs the money from the sale of their share?
Note that aunt’s daughter with special needs may have her own Medicaid or other government program that limit benefits based on her assets or income. That may be another reason her other daughter doesn’t want to start with this.
As always, if you want legal advice you can rely on, consult an appropriate attorney.
Please disregard my suggestion on your options if you were his sole heir.
Time to get a real estate or trust and estate attorney on board. It's going to cost a fair amount to get this untangled. (I'd have let it go for the unpaid taxes myself.)