Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

You are making a number of incorrect legal assumptions. Your "real father" has nothing to do with the property. It went to your mother at the time of the divorce. When she married your step-Dad and he moved into the home, the house became a marital asset. When your mother died, the house would ordinarily pass to the surviving spouse as a matter of law unless there was a Will making a different distribution of your mother's one-half interest in the property. Your step-Dad is now the owner, not "only a tenant." Be glad you are not on any of the loans and have no liability on these debts. On the other hand, you own nothing and don't even have a right to live in the home assuming you are over 18 and your mother did not leave you her one-half interest.

With a bit more information a more definite answer could be given but based on what you have given, you have no interest in the property.

When lawyers talk about "joint tenants" or "tenants in common" the word tenant has meaning only with respect to how the title to the property is held: you must look to the deed pertaining to the real estate, and to the title certificate for how title was held with respect to the automobile. If the title is held as "joint tenants with right of surivvorship" or as "tenants by the entirety" the property belongs to the surviving joint tenant on the death of the first to die. This means you, as a child, have no rights to the property. If the title to the property were in your mother's name alone, whether you had any rights to the property would depend on whether your mother left a will, which would establish who has rights to the worldly property she leaves behind. If she didn't have a will and the property is not in some form of joint tenancy, you might have a claim to the property along with her surviving spouse. Illinois law provides for a cash award to surviving spouses, and whoever paid the funeral expenses is entitled to reimbursement before any remaining assets are distributed. You probably have nothing, but only an examination of the deeds and title certificates will tell you more.