Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Selling my Mother in law home

Your husband does not have to sign over the deed. He can execute a power of attorney giving the brother in law the right to handle the sale. It does not sound reasonable to me to require your husband to sign the deed. I suggest you consult an attorney immediately. Once the deed is signed your brother in law can control the sale price and will be the sole owner of the property. He can keep the proceeds from the sale for himself. If a deed is signed make sure you obtain an written agreement that you husband still will retain his one half interest in the property. A failure to get such a written agreement might result in your husband losing all of his interest in the proceeds from any sale, if the brother in law is promoting his own self interest. This all depends upon the honesty and integrity of the brother in law. Many law suits exist where families disagreed over money. Money makes enemies if people do not act fairly and just intent. Proceed with great caution. Gerald Hershenson 215-579-9390

Re: Selling my Mother in law home

The only person who can sell a home is the person who has legal title, or a person to whom a power of attorney has been given. If the home is owned by your mother in law, and she is living and capable of acting on her own, she would be the person deciding, and signing any deed.

If your husband and his brother have a power of attorney, that includes a power to sell real property owned by their mother, they may sell it, but proceeds should be held for her, not given to them for their own use.

If your mother in law is deceased, the only person who deal with her real property is the person named as Executor in her will if she had one, and if not, a person or persons appointed as Administrators by the Register of Wills for the County in which she resided.