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Originally Posted by moonlite

Well, thank you for the kind words ! The way I look at it, I'd rather get whatever information I can from folks who genuinely care and are interested than spend 10 minutes on the phone with a cold-hearted lawyer and pay him at least $100. I hope none of you is a lawyer :). But I know eventually I will need one anyway.

Ok, I do not know who the "et al" refers to frankly. The deeds do not explain it any further. I know it was not me, my mother or any of my sisters or brother. Even if we - his other children and wife- were not listed on the deeds as "partial owners", and since he did no leave a Will to exclude any of us from any of these properties after his death, don't we have the right to force these properties into probate so everyone's share can be legally determined ? I think we're getting even closer, ha ?

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Ahh, yes!

Have you seen the full, original Deed or are you looking at a description or a tax bill? The full "et al" should be described somewhere.

If all else fails, the person who prepared the original Deeds - usually an Attorney - would have the full Deed with the full names. Et al could mean your father, his best friend and the neighbor's cat - you need to know who "owned" those properties.

If the property was owned jointly, he passed away, the others inherited without the property passing through the Will.

For example, if you and I and, I don't know, pick a name, own a property and I pass away you and the other person inherit directly. I do not address the property in a Will land there is no probate needed to transfer that property.

(If it was the neighbor's cat I guarantee the cat has already retained an Attorney - :D )

So you are saying if this "et al" was indeed my brother and aunt, then all is lost. Not my mother or any of his surviving children can make a claim against anything ? If this is the case, then my father was truly smart in a "financial" sense but has zero appreciation for his loved ones ! Actually, I was only able to look up the deed online in the public records registry. Is there a possibility that other people can be listed on the deed even though they did not pay anything toward the properties or take a part in any transaction ?

The key issue here who who "et al" is. Frankly, I've never seen an individual deed listed like that. What I suggest you do at this point is go down to the county clerk's o0ffce and get an copy of the deed, bith the previous deed and the current one. You need to determine who agreed to transfer the property to the current owners.

At some point, though, you are probably going to need an attorney who can advise on whether that transfer was legal or not. And that all depends on how the deed and the law determine who "et al" is. Because a deed is not valid unless the transfer was agreed to by all parties involved.