Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas

Re: Taxes Paid Since 1971

The first thing you will need to do is to figure out who all of the owners are. Who were the beneficiaries of your great grandfather's will? Then, if they died, who were their beneficiaries or heirs? Were their wills probated or their estates administered? You are probably in for a lot of research. Likely, some of those relatives moved out of state.

Once you find everyone, or at least as many as you can find, you should see who will deed you their interests, either as a gift or for a price. Even though you may have to pay people more than fair market value, it will undoubtedly be cheaper than a lawsuit.

If you cannot buy everyone out, or if you cannot locate everyone or figure out the identity of everyone, then you should hire a lawyer and file either a partition lawsuit or a petition for forced sale under Texas Property Code Chapter 29. The court will appoint ad litem attorneys for the unknown or unlocatable owners. These lawsuits are likely to cost thousands of dollars, not to mention your costs of finding everyone, but they work.

Please consult a local attorney once you've finished your efforts finding the owners and acquiring their interests. You'll also want an attorney to prepare deeds for you, when any owners agree to give or sell their interests to you.

Good luck, I have been involved in a similar case in South Texas where title was spread out like this, and it took 2 generations to sort it all out.

If the land is important to you, and you have time and money to spend, you can do it. The title will only get more complicated as time goes on - it already involves at least 3 generations, and people tend to die and add to the complexity. You can get started slowly if you're not ready to spend all of your time on it yet.