Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: mom passed away without a will

You do not say it directly but I assume that your parents were divorced. In California, if a person dies without a Will, the property goes to their spouse [much of it may be community property so goes to your Dad through that process]. If they are separated but not formally divorced, they still are married. If they have divorced, then the property goes to the children, assuming that a property settlement was already carried out so that all the property in your mother's possession was her separate property.

For the house payments, the mortgage holder can not refuse to accept payments from a non-owner; if the monthly payments are offered to the lender and the do not accept the payments, then the law treats it still as being the mortgage paid. Also, they would have to give you notice of any proposed sale and any money received above the cost of the sale and the amount of the mortgage that was unpaid [and no offer was made to pay it] would go to the owners of the house [your Dad, the children].

If the facts are as you have stated, you need to go to an attorney to recover the house, find out who should be owning it, etc. I suspect you may not be aware of all the facts that are significant; it seems as though it will be a somewhat complicated case, but not because the law that applies is complex, but rather the number of people involve is large. For some aspects you might also still be considered as a minor. I might be able to give you some additional help but you should be getting an attorney where you live.

Good luck.