Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas
My mother Sally recently died intestate. My wife and I have lived with her for the past 5 years taking care of her so that she won't need to be placed in a nursing home. But enough about that I'll get straight to the point.
Sally has 3 living children (her heirs) who, to my understanding of Texas law, will each get 1/3 of the estate (in this case house, since there's nothing else of value). The house is worth 100k+. My sister Jill can't afford to pay for the administration and my brother Jack is in prison for 4 more years.
How long does the administration process normally take? Do I have the right to just ask the administrator to sell the house and split the money 3 ways? Does Jack or Jill have the right to contest our solution?
Finally one last question; how long can property taxes go delinquent in Texas before the state takes it away?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Your best bet is to get everyone to agree to have you appointed as the independent administrator without bond. Then you file an application to determine heirship along with your agreement to be appointed. You will need two totally unrelated parties to swear to the heirship facts. The court will appoint an attorney ad litem to verifynthe heirship claims. The whole process can take as little as a month or forever dependiing.
There are a number of different ways this can go down, and the time and cost varies wildly. Did the mother owe any debts? What is the objective? Do you want to buy out your siblings? Sell the house and split the proceeds?
As for how long the government takes to foreclose, there's no pattern. There are typically three taxing jurisdictions, and any one can foreclose for delinquent taxes on their own schedule.
My advice: discuss with your siblings how you would like to resolve the estate. Hire counsel once you all agree how to handle your mother's estate (who gets what, and in your brother's case, when.) Probate does not have to be expensive, and, from what you've told me here, if everyone can agree, then I do not think it's necessarily going to be expensive. If you all start fighting, things get expensive very, very quickly.
Dave
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