Legal Question in Real Estate Law in District of Columbia
Washington DC inheritance and real estate law
My fraternal grandmother died in Washington, DC in 1999. My grandfather preceded her in death. My father, her heir, died in 1998 prior to his mother. My brother and myself are the heirs to his portion of Washington DC real estate. There are 11 heirs to the DC real estate. My aunt is the executor of the estate. The property has finished DC probate court and the deeds will soon be ready to sign. My aunt wants the heirs to sign the deeds over to her, thereby relinquishing our rights to any inheritance from the property. My brother and I are my father�s only heirs. We do not want to relinquish our rights to the property. What are our rights to the property? Could one or both of us move in to the property? My aunt has lived in the property for many years. What rights does she have and are they more or the same as our rights to the property? My aunt was the executor of my grandmother�s estate; what rights does my aunt have as the executor of the estate, what rights do the heirs have? Are the rights equal under the laws of the District of Columbia? What type of attorney would we need to litigate this matter, and do they work on a contingency basis? How do we retain a real estate, inheritance attorney pro bono or conting
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Washington DC inheritance and real estate law
You haven't said so but apparently your father died intestate (without a will) and your aunt(apparently, your father's sister) applied to the court to be appointed the personal administrator(not the executor who is appointed by will)of his estate.
As personal adminstrator(PR)of your father's estate, it's your aunt's job to collect up all the assets of the estate and to distribute them to the legal heirs of the decedent in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia which govern intestate inheritance(if in fact your father died without a will). She must also file a
final report with the court detailing the assets as well as the debts attributed to the estate and
how, ultimately, any assets were distributed.
You should seek legal counsel as to whether at this point you should be signing the deeds which you've mentioned and also to ensure that you receive whatever you're entitled to receive from the estate before the probate is finalized.
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