Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Property willed to several people

My mother died in 1978, willed some property in Colorado and North Carolina to the children and my father. The property's deeds were in the hands of my father until he died. He claimed the property in Colorado was worthless and never paid taxes on it. But he never saw the property also. THe property in North Carolina he offered to my husband and I upon our marriage in 1986. We looked at the property and liked it. My father said he did not want it nor did my brothers. When my father died two years ago my eldest brother took the deed to the North Carolina property and stated he and his wife wanted to sell it. I never saw the will when my mother died or my father's will. My brother and his wife have stated they have irrecovable trusts set up for their children. If this property that was left to all the children by my mother is placed it their irrecovable trus for their kids how do I go about getting the property out of there and how do I stop them from selling the property? I have no deed and the real estate company they listed the property with has been changed. Can they do this anyway? They live, my brother and his wife in Fla. my father died in Fla also my mother,


Asked on 5/18/00, 2:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Hugh Wood Wood & Meredith

Re: Property willed to several people

You have posted a fairly complex probate question which cannot be answered simply on an Internet BBS.

Unless you have already gathered them, you need FACTS. You need to go the county in which your mother died and obtain a copy of her will (from the Courthouse) and an entire copy of the probate file. Then, you need either a title searcher or lawyer to obtain complete copies of the deeds on file in both CO and NC.

Once you have ALL of that information, you will then be able to determine where you stand in your fight to claim ownership of the land.

Time is working against you at this point. Your mother's estate is 22 years old. Your father's estate is 2 years old. While 2 years may not seem like a lot of time, if an estate is opened and managed properly in Georgia, it should be ready to close at the 2 year mark (if, not well, before). You have clearly missed the time to Caveat in CO and, I believe, you have missed the time to Caveat in GA.

Good Luck

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Answered on 7/04/00, 9:03 am


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