Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arkansas

Re: selling property after a will has expired

I have a couple of questions. Where did the probate occur? If in AR, you may need to re-open the probate, and get court's permission to sell the property, or dispose of as proper.

If it was probated in another state, I am not familiar with other states laws and would not be able to tell you if the same thing is needed.

Assuming this is real estate, who has been paying the taxes since 1996? You would need to do a title search to be sure that the property was still in the decedents name. What county is this property in?

I would be glad to try to help you with this, if you don't already have an attorney, and there is something that can be done here in AR.

Good Luck.

Re: selling property after a will has expired

Wills don't expire. Did you close the probate? Did you tell the court that you had performed all your duties and just recently discover an omission?

Once having been admitted to probate here, the will remains valid. If you have non-intervention powers, you can sell the property with a trustee's deed and giving notice to the probate court. If you don't have nonintervention powers you need to move the Court for permission to sell the property.

Who has been paying the taxes? I don't know if Arkansas recognizes adverse possession, but in WA you could theoretically lose this property having ignored it for eleven years.

You need to have the title searched, as the gentleman in AR said.

You can deal with the probate here in WA *IF* the original estate was probated here.

You need to apply for new letters testamentary to authorize the escrow.

Contacting counsel in AR is a good idea, because real estate purchase and sale transactions could be handled differently there.

Hope this helps. Powell