Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

I don't understand why people regard a lawyer as worse than a dentist and something to be avoided. You would not hire a plumber to do brain surgery would you?

You would not be asking questions if you knew what to do. So I suggest you consult with a probate attorney who practices in the county/state where your mother lived. Where you or your children live is irrelevant. Its where your mother lived and owned property that is important.

I assume mother had a will, which is good. Did she e have a personal representative? Is that you? Has a will been submitted for probate? Probate is probably going to be necessary. Have any claims against the estate been paid? When did mother die? If no estate has been probated has the time for any claims expired?

You just don't have the child who does not want the home quitclaim his or her interest because there are going to be tax consequences to doing that. If the estate has not been probated, why not have that child renounce any right to inherit under the estate and avoid the tax issues? The renunciation must be in accordance with state and federal law to be done correctly. Assuming there is no probate, then the child who does not want the property can do a quitclaim deed. However, a notary is not a lawyer and cannot prepare a new deed. To be effective, a lawyer must prepare a new deed transferring the property. Although the child can convey his/her share outright, the problem is that he/she will be deemed to have made a gift which is taxable. You can only gift up to about $13,000 per year to another to avoid gift taxes. So if the property is worth more than $26,000, I suggest that the child consult a CPA before making a gift like this. And if the estate is in Pennsylvania there is going to be inheritance taxes imposed before there is even a transfer of property between children.

I have just raised some issues. There are many more. I strongly urge the personal representative of the estate to at least consult a probate/real estate attorney to make sure that this is handled correctly because it may be a lot more costly later on to fix the mistakes.