Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

My mom purchased a house in the late 90's, in 2016 she was going to default on her loan and utilized a asset recovery service to take out a second mortgage and not have the house go into foreclosure. Then in that same year, my mom decided she didn't want to live there anymore and I'm not sure of the details but sold the house to a family friend of mine. I am not sure exactly what went on with this or with the following events. Shortly after that my family friend sold the house to some other parrty that I do not know, and as far as I know nor did he. Fast forward to today; my mom has since passed away, and the current owner of the house (who the family friend sold it to) contacts me because it caught fire and was trying to make an insurance claim, but was not able to because it is/was still in my moms name and me being the beneficiary, he was seeking my help to file this insurance claim. This raised a huge red flag for me because as far as I know nothing to do with that house should have still been in my moms name. Now I think something strange went on with the selling of the property and im not even sure who legally owns it; and what they did. I would like to know who I can contact to get help with this.


Asked on 6/08/21, 1:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

That is indeed very squirrelly. Something clearly was not done right in one or both sales. As a result you have a bundle of legal issues crossing between real estate and probate law. The first question is do you want and/or think you are entitled to own the property? If not, you should dump it back in the current owner's lap, tell him to hire a lawyer to clean it up, and you will cooperate. You'll need to pay an attorney for a few hours to review whatever they want you to do, and they should pay you something to cover that cost and for cooperating. They are probably going to have to probate the property to give you clear title, and then have you deed it to them. Or they may go with a quiet title action, which would be cheaper but slower. Choice is up to them. If you think you are entitled to and want to keep the property, however, such as if you think your mom was taken advantage of or defrauded, you need to contact a lawyer right away to determine if you have a case.

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Answered on 6/18/21, 11:46 am


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