Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
Judgements against Estate
My deceased Fathers Will, drawn up by his attorney of 30years, stated that his estate is to be divided up among his children Child A, B, C, D, E and F, or those surviving. Two of the children A&B are deceased.
In order to avoid probate, my Father had also at one time had all of the children on the title of his home, which is the only valuable asset. He everyone sign off the title when he was going to refinance. Deceased Child A was married briefly to a man that has judgments for non-payment of child support. During an attempt to sell, the home these judgments have come up, and look like they are going to eat up the whole estate. How is it possible that my Father, and us surviving children are being punished for legal obligations someone else has aquired, before he even married our sister?
Do us surviving children have any recourse. Can we just not sell the house, and hold it in perpetuity?
Shouldn't my fathers long time attorney have advised against putting so many names on the property title?
Now the attorney is telling the executor to not pay any bills to carry the home, (oil, electic, mortgage) from the estate account because he believes judgements should be paid off from that account.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Judgements against Estate
In order to properly answer the question, I need to know more about the judgments against the married child. How did a spouse incur liability for the other spouse's financial obligations, entitling the lien to be placed? I do not understand how one spouse can become liable for another spouse's individual debt, so I do not think the lien is valid. This may require a suit to clear the title and remove the lien. Once the determination is made as to the validity of the lien, and presuming it is not valid, the rest should be easy. This is a response to an Internet question and the reply is not intended to be legal advice or as creating an attorney-client relationship.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
