Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas
title?
my father started buying a house 12yrs ago from a woman her husband was deceased. both names were on the title. he did not leave a will and they had no children together. but he did have children through another marriage. so the title company tracked down the kids and had them sign all but one she refused. we lost track of her a couple of yrs ago and now the house has been paid off for 2yrs. the widow passed away and her son signed off on everything when we asked about the stepsister he said she had passed away but knew no more than that. so we dont know if she has kids or where she died. how do we get a title? is there a 10yr stat limt that she had nothing to do with the property?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: title?
You're on the right track. The cheapest and easiest thing is to find step-sister and get a quit-claim deed from her and the heirs. You will also need an affidavit of heirship for the widow's estate. If that is not possible, it will cost at least $2,000 to obtain a declaratory judgment to "declare" your father the true owner based on the doctrine of adverse possession and the 10-year requirement to possess. Best of luck.
Re: title?
You really must make a big effort to find the stepsister's heirs. If you can, and they will deed their interest to you, great, you're done.
If you find them and they don't want to deed their interest to you, then you will have to file a lawsuit, either partition or forced sale, and they will be involved. If you can't find them, then you will have to file the same type of lawsuit, but also pay an attorney ad litem to represent the unknown owners.
These other owners don't just go away - in order to get clear title, the court will require you to pay them, or to pay the money into the court where it will be held for them, if they ever show up. You probably cannot get a declaratory judgment for adverse possession in this case, since these other people are undivided owners and you have never given them notice that you are excluding them from the property.
Even if it costs a couple of thousand dollars to track them down, if they agree to cooperate, it will be cheaper than filing a lawsuit.
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