Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

1959we were mqrried-1960-hubbys father quit-claimed 1 acre to us for home-1960 my contractor father donated labor and built us house-we borrowed 8000 for material from local loan co.-didnt need cosigner but later found hubbys father signed on mortgage..Didnt like me and didnt think marriage would last.-I was told.--1984 we paid mortgage on house and steel barn totally off. Asked loan co. where deed was was told at the courthouse.Didnt persue..1998 hubbys dad died..2001 hubbys business might get sued so lawyer was going to protect home and put it in family trust--but said we didnt own our home..it was in hubbys dads trust. my name wasnt on our property. went to hubbys dads lawyer and he wouldnt tell us anything-just said he did everything on the up and up. so our lawyer took the 1 acre deed with my name on it and had hubby and me make new deed by deeding property back and forthto each other. chicago title and trust paper I found later had me hubby and his parents as cosigners to loan only if they had any claim to property..We paid all payments taxes on our home and didnt owe inlaws anything.Hubby didnt like father and wouldnt knowingly sign home away.we dont have the money to persue this at this time..How could this mess have happened legally?this is all we know at this time. Hubby has 2 sisters that dont like him.they claim to know nothing about a trust -


Asked on 6/02/10, 2:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

This is WAY too confusing. You're asking someone here to give you some kind of opinion on over 50 years worth of transactions, deeds, mortgages, trusts, etc. etc. and on top of everything else several lawyers. How could this mess have happened??? Because apparently nobody trusted anyone else, nobody made sure anything was done properly, the only one who may have a clue is dead, and now nobody alive seems to have a clue. This can't be sorted out in this kind of internet site. It requires someone to take everything you may have in the way of paperwork, etc. probably back to the last lawyer that did anything for you and "hubby" and tell him or her it's still not right and to get it fixed if possible. You may also see if the title company may be of some help piecing things together. Whether anybody likes or liked anybody else is irrelevant. It's the documents that count.

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Answered on 6/02/10, 6:53 pm


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