Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Re: Transferring title

I assume you mean that your sister loaned your mother $$ and your mom gave her a mortgage which is filed against the house. If mom is sole title holder, yes she can transfer to you, the mortgage is now your responsibility to pay off.

Either re-fi and pay her off or assume the mortgage (if assumable).

Re: Transferring title

Transferred by whom? If your sister put a mortgage on the property, then it is your sister who must own the property. In any case, if your mother owns the property, she could transfer it to you subject to the mortgage, but you would need to check the terms of the mortgage; most likely, the transfer of the property will run into a "due on sale" clause that allows the bank to call in the mortgage when the property is sold. None of these questions can be answered without knowing the current state of title, and from what you have said, the state is at least a little weird.

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