Re: real estate
Quieting title only works if you are "entitled" to hold title, and is only necessary if someone or something stands in the way of your obtaining clear title "of record" by some other means. Probably you have good title, but let's start at the beginning:
First, paying the mortgage, by itself, doesn't give you legal ownership. There are at least four ways you could have become legal owner, however, which would give you a good chance to obtain title in yourself, whether by quiet title suit or a simpler means:
1. If you held title with your father as joint tenants, you would have become sole owner "automatically" upon his death, and could get the public records squared around to show that by filing a couple of simple forms with the recorder - no trip to court required, at least probably.
2. If your father had a will, you could have inherited the house, and a probate proceeding in court would have been needed (probably) to determine that you were indeed the intended heir and to place title in your name.
3. If your father had a living trust, the trust document will be your guiude as to waht to do; if it named you the successor trustee and beneficiary, a lawyer can straighten out title for you, probably without a court proceeding. If a trust named someone else as trustee or beneficiary (heir) with respect to the house, things get difficult.
4. If "none of the above" seems to fit, i.e., no will, no trust, no joint tenancy, the rules of "intestate succession" will apply. If you are the only surviving child, you will probably inherit everything, but a probate proceeding will be necessary.
You should take any papers you have to a local attorney who does probate work or handles wills, trusts and estates and get a free initial consultation to determine where you stand and what's the cheapest and fastest way to get title in your name.
The reconveyance to your (deceased) father is just the mortgage lender's way of acknowledging that the loan is fully paid and it is giving back its collateral.
