Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Kansas
This is a two part question.
Background:
The last grandparent on my mother's side recently passed away. Before this grandparent passed, they entered into a contract with an external party to sell a plot of land. The proceeds of this land would have been used to pay off the estate's debt. The children of this grandparent understood the intention of this contract.
Two day's before this grandparent passed away (which was unexpected), a Transfer on Death (TOD) form was signed stating something to the effect of: On death, the ownership of this plot of land will be transferred to Party X. The TOD was signed after the contract (between the grandparent and the external party) to sell the land was signed. The purpose of the TOD was to act as a fail-safe; if the contract to sell the land fell through and the grandparent passed away, then Party X would receive the land. The purpose of the TOD was also understood by the children.
Fast-Forward to Today:
Party X believes that the proceeds from selling the land should go to them and not to the grandparent's estate. If this is true, this means that the estate will have to sell property (that was supposed to be split up between the children) in order to pay off the debt. This was supposed to be done with profits from the land sell. The contract to sell the plot of land to the external party is still active; it didn't fall through.
Question #1:
After a contract to sell a plot of land has been signed by two parties, can a Transfer on Death form be signed for the same plot of land? Due to the aftermath from recent events, my mother asked the same clerk that gave her the TOD form. The clerk didn't know that the land had already entered into a contract to be sold. And the clerk really didn't give my mother a straight answer.
Question #2:
If the TOD is valid, do the proceeds of this land sell go to the estate or to Party X? The contract was between the grandparent and the external party. Party X wasn't apart of the contract in any way.
Thank You,
j
1 Answer from Attorneys
There are other variables that affect the outcome, so the estate representative should consult directly with counsel before deciding how to proceed. Under the hypothetical you described, if the external party had neither paid any sums our attempted to record or act on contract, the grandparent was free to execute the tod. In which case person x can cancel the sale contract. If the external party can enforce the sale contract, they can nullify the tod, or the estate can take the poosition that since there was a valid sale contract, the grabdparent no longer owned the land at death, so no land passed to the party x.
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