Hi, a few years ago my mother passed away and she had no will and I am an only child. My mother and grandmother owned a condo jointly. I went to NJ probabte court and got papers saying I was ex. of my mother's estate. Also with my mothers insurance money I had paid off a loan that was on the condo. The deed has my mother and grandmother's name on and and she had my mother's name taken off the tax bill so the taxes only came in her name.
Now my grandmother refuses to get a will done (she has one from 20 years ago from the old house she owned and listed my mother as her ben. and then my uncle which is now not valid since she no longer owns that property).
My question is can I put some kind of lien on the condo so I am assurred I get the 50% (my mother's half) if the condo is ever sold or my grandmother passes away?????? My uncle is a snake and keeps trying to get her to sell her condo now that I paid it off and have her live with him since he controls all her money and I want to protect what I know is my half?
Thank you so much in advance

ScottGem

You shoud put your name on the deed. As executor of your mom's estate, you have the right to issue a quit claim deed from your mom's estate to your name as benficiary of her estate and grandma's.

Theorectically, if your uncle tried to sell the condo you, as executor would have to sign off on it. So its unlikely he can sell it out from under you. But it would be even better to get your name on the deed.

A lien is not applicable here. That's for protecting the interest of a creditor on the property.

Fr_Chuck

Well???? how was the deed with your mom grandmother written, if it was written to both with right of survivial, then it does not go to probate and the grandmother automaticly gets all of the property,

So before you took any insurance money and paid any taxes on any property, you needed to have an attorney review the deeds and see how they were written, it is very possible that you just paid the grandmothers taxes and are just out that money with no right to the property at all.

Next your grandmother can in her will, will the propety to anyone, she can leave it to me, I don't have to be on the deed, ( not sure why you though a person had to be on the deed to be left the property in a will)

So at this point, you did everything wrong, time to hire an attorney

peanut6966

I dont know how the deed was written. They paid cash and then they took out an equity loan on the property and that is what I paid off with the insurance money. At the time I was only 22 and I had no clue what I was doing and now I am starting to find out that I did everything wrong Is there a way I can get a copy of the deed from the county to see what it says on it?

ScottGem

Chuck makes a good point. If the deed was held jointly with right of survivorship, then the property passed to grandma outside of your mom's estate.

You should be able to go to the county and get a copy of the deed. The condo association may also have one.

LisaB4657

You need to get an attorney to represent you.

Yes, you can go to the county clerk's office and get a copy of the deed but that won't tell you what you need to do next. You will need an attorney in this situation sooner or later so it is better to get one now before you let any of your rights slip away.

If your mother and grandmother owned the condo as joint tenants with rights of survivorship then your grandmother owns 100% of it now. But you still may be able to make a claim against her for the payoff of the loan. If your mother and grandmother owned the condo as tenants in common then you will have to file an executor's deed to insure that your interests are protected. Unless you feel that you are able to handle either of these situations on your own, you need an attorney. So don't wait. Get one to represent you (and the estate) now.

excon

Hello Peanut:

LisaB IS an attorney IN New Jersey. I think providence is knocking...

excon

ScottGem

But Povidence is in Rhode Island????

Couldn't resist

peanut6966

Okay, I looked up the deed online and looked at it and it says right of survivorship on it. I also found out that there has been an equity loan taken out on the property (which I know my uncle had my grandma do) and now I am getting worried that all the money I paid into the condo with paying off the $95,000 equity loan is now sunk since I thought I was going to get the money back when ever the condo was sold or whenever my grandma passed away. Any advice as to what I should do now?

excon

Hello again, Peanut:

Yes! PM LisaB and HIRE her!!

excon