Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Guam
Seller / Buyer Same Person
Several years ago my late husband formed a real estate development corp. with my late parents. He had POA on all land parcels sold thru this corp. One of those parcels was purchased by us. My late husband signed for my parents as seller ( with POA ) AND he signed as buyer ( warranty deed ). Since then this piece of property has been subdivided. I recently tried to sell one of the lots and the Title company informed me that the warranty deed with my late husband signing as both seller and buyer is a problem. They told me that my 2 brothers and sister need to sign a quit claim deed in order to clear this title issue or, if this isn't possible, pursue a quiet title action. If this case goes to court how big of a problem is the handling of this warranty deed likely to be ?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Seller / Buyer Same Person
It won't be a problem in court as long as there is clear evidence of the facts and intent. However, if the relatives create a dispute in court, it can obviously get expensive. Feel free to contact me if serious about getting legal help in resolving this.
Re: Seller / Buyer Same Person
The question is sort of like asking, "If I buy this used car, am I going to have trouble with it?" You would probably have to sue (i.e., name as defendants) anyone with a possible adverse claim; that would include the two brothers and sister. If none of them wished to assert a claim, or didn't figure it was worth while, they would default and getting clear title would be a relatively simple matter of going before a judge, presenting your evidence of title, and you'd probably get your judgment with little fuss or muss.
One must wonder, however, if the siblings have no thought of making a claim to a piece of title, why the suit would be necessary -- it should be possible to get them to sign quitclaims.
It is true that many persons in the posture of your siblings here would refuse to sign a quitclaim, either because they don't understand legal documents at all, or because they want to be obnoxious, or in the hope of being offered some cash in exchange for signing; but would not, if used, bother to hire a lawyer and present a defense based on not-very-much.
Other factors to consider here would include what happened in any probate proceeding(s) in the estates involved, and whether none, some or all of the factors of adverse possession might be present.
In sum, the title issues should be cleared up sooner rather than later, as they are unlikely to go away on their own, but the difficulty in doing so either by quitclaim deeds or quiet-title action cannot be predicted as they depend in large part upon the attitudes of the siblings including any justification they might have for feeling inclined to oppose you.
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