My mom passed away a few months ago. She did not have a will. My siblings & I inherited her house, which is paid for. We want to sell the house. We found a buyer, & during the title search it was discovered that one of my brothers has court judgements against him totaling thousands of $$$$. The sale fell through, because title ins. Could not be obtained. What can we do? He does not have the money to clear up the judgements, nor do we. His judgements total more than the proceeds that he will receive from the sale. In the meantime, the house sits & we are paying to maintain it, i.e.. utilities, et. etc. We live in N.Y.S. Please advise, & thank you.

You can pool your money to clear his judgements and then take his portion back after close. Aside from that, I cannot think of anything.

It MAY be possible for him to quit his claim to the property to allow you and the rest of your siblings to sell. I do not know enough about quit claims (If that is even what they are called) to speak much about this. I believe it is possible though. Someone else should be able to fill this in later.

Has title been transferred to your siblings from your mother yet? If not, then the title should still be in the Estate of <mom's name>. In that case, the estate is the seller not the siblings. And any judgements against a sibling shouldn't matter.

I'm also curious because judgements against a party shouldn't interfere with title unless there is a lien on the property.

I would consult with a real estate attorney, because I don't really see how judgements in place against one sibling should affect the transfer of title.

Has title been transferred to your siblings from your mother yet? If not, then the title should still be in the Estate of <mom's name>. In that case, the estate is the seller not the siblings. And any judgements against a sibling shouldn't matter.

I'm also curious because judgements against a party shouldn't interfere with title unless there is a lien on the property.

I would consult with a real estate attorney, because I don't really see how judgements in place against one sibling should affect the transfer of title.
Apparently, because we have all inherited an interest in the house & estate, the house cannot be sold with the liens against my brother. We {my siblings & I} are now the sellers, not the estate. And we cannot offer a clean title because of the liens against my brother. Now we have another issue. Because he knows he more than likely will not get any monies from the sale proceeds, he is refusing to cooperate. The suggestion was made to have an attorney possibly negotiating with the creditors to have them settle for less than what he owes them. He won't do it. Unless he changes his mind, we are in limbo.

Apparently, because we have all inherited an interest in the house & estate, the house cannot be sold with the liens against my brother. ....

"Apparently" is not good enough. The answer to that question is very important, so don't just assume the answer.

A probate estate would have had to be established. If you don't know for sure that has occurred, get an attorney to look into it.

If this is the case, there are away to avoid creditors of your brother getting any of the value of the house.

Yes, if the "mother" is still the owner on deed, and the probate court has not transferred ownership of the property to the children, then the house could be sold by the estate, not by the children, since until the court transfers deed they do not own it yet.

Of course the part of the sale that goes to the one person with judgements may be forzen from that payout, only his part would be, if the house is still owned by the estate.

If the probate is over and the estate has transferred ownership of the home to all the parties ( you have a new deed inyour names) then there is little you can do

yes, if the "mother" is still the owner on deed, and the probate court has not transfered ownership of the property to the children, then the house could be sold by the estate, not by the children, since untill the court transfers deed they do not own it yet.

Of course the part of the sale that goes to the one person with judgements may be forzen from that payout, only his part would be, if the house is still owned by the estate.

If the probate is over and the estate has transfered ownership of the home to all the parties ( you have a new deed inyour names) then there is little you can do I don't believe that ownership of the house has been transferred to us as of yet. But, it that is the case & the estate technically still owns the property, why did the title ins. Company refuse to clear the title & isssue the poicy? The judgement issue came up when the search was being done & there are no other liens against the property. Thanks for the responses.

Because there is still legal work to be done, you obvioiusly don't have a probate attorney would be my guess,

There are normally ways for one or more parties to give up their right to the will, or in other words not have them receive any of the proceeds

It will take some work to get it done and can depend on some of the wording of the will. But if the estate sells the house, the money goes to the estate for the estate to divide up.

Why not just rent the house out... that will pay for it until you can get your situations cleared.

You can do rent with the option to buy after a year or so...

I don't believe that ownership of the house has been transferred to us as of yet. But, it that is the case & the estate technically still owns the property, why did the title ins. company refuse to clear the title & isssue the poicy? The judgement issue came up when the search was being done & there are no other liens against the property. Thanx for the responses.


I asked this question previously and the response was different. You seem to not have a grasp on the actual facts of this situation and without that its hard to help you.

We don't know why the Title company refused insurance because you haven't told us EXACTLY what they said or EXACTLY what the property owenership is or EXACTLY what the status of the judgements against the one sibling are, etc. Until you get all your facts straight all we can do is guess.

What we can tell you is this.

1) If the property is still in mom's name, then the estate can sell it with clear title.

2) If the property has been transferred to the siblings as joint tenants, then the judgement holders would have to record a lien against the brother's share for the judgement to cloud the title.

3) Even if a lien or liens have been recorded, title can still be insured as long as the brother's share goes towards satisfying the liens.

So I would go back to the title insurers and get a DETAILED explanation about why they refuse to insure the Title. You may want to consult another Title insurer.

But before you can go ANY further you need to get the facts.