Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Kentucky

My mother and step father purchased a house together 40 years ago. She passed away a while ago but he never changed the mortgage. He passed away last year and and his kids say were have no rights to the house or property. Is that right. We live in kentucky.


Asked on 4/30/12, 9:43 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Andrea Welker Welker Law Office

Well, I don't know what his will says, if he had one, but what likely happened is this: When you purchase real property with a spouse, it is usually deeded as "joint tenants with right of survivorship." Meaning that, should one of them die, the other automatically assumes full ownership of the property, regardless of what their will says. It doesn't get probated, there's nothing else that needs to be done; it's just theirs. When your mother died, likely, your stepfather became the sole owner of the house. Now that he's died, the house will go to his heirs/beneficiaries under his will.

The best thing to do, however, is to take all of the documents you have to a local attorney to review, so you know for sure. But the likelihood is, yes, his children are correct in saying you and your siblings do not have any rights to the property.

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Answered on 5/07/12, 2:11 pm


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