Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida
life estate
My sister & I are named on the deed to our family home with my father's widow as LE. The house was purchased in 1961. We can't seem to find the deed or when it was changed to my father's wife as life estate. We do not have contact with this woman, but have heard & found online that she is trying to sell the house. She would not allow the family access to our father's papers when he died in 1984 and our father didn't tell us we were named on the deed. How can we stop her from selling? She took out a mortgage the month after my father's death. We think she may have forged some papers or something else illegal to get control of the property, but since we all live outside Florida it is hard for us to do research. Who can we contact to get a title status report? We don't have a lot of money the spend. My father had filed for divorce a few months before he died. When she found out he was dying she moved back in to grab all she could.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: life estate
You can contact the County Clerk where the property is located and obtain a copy of the deed
in question.
Re: life estate
As previously said, you can contact the local office of county records to get a copy of the deed. But, try online first. Some counties have records online. As for selling the house, she shouldn't be able to sell it without your signatures since you are on the deed.
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