Buying and Selling Property in Probate

Real estate plays an important role in probate cases. You are generally one of two people. You either are the personal representative, and you are seeking to sell real estate, so that you can distribute the assets to the named beneficiaries. Or you are a potential buyer, trying to get a good deal on real estate that is in probate.

A Number of Hurdles

Just because property is owned by someone who is now deceased, doesn’t mean that the property can immediately be sold. The probate case must either be completely closed or complete, or otherwise, there must be a court order authorizing the sale of the property while the case is pending.

In some cases, if the case is still pending, you may (likely through an attorney) need to ask the court for permission to purchase the property. Sometimes wills have provisions authorizing sales before the probate case ends (power of sale clauses), which could expedite the process.

While you may want to pick up a great deal on the property, the personal representative also has an obligation to maximize returns for the estate and the beneficiaries, so a “steal” may be difficult to come by.

Can it Be Sold?

You also need to ensure that the personal representative can even sell the property—beneficiaries may want to keep the property and live or use it. If a will is unclear about whether the property can be liquidated, or whether a beneficiary gets to use or live in it, this has to be resolved before any probate real estate sale.

Sometimes property is listed pre-death (and thus, before the probate case was ever opened). When that happens, you don’t often know if the listing terms are still valid.

Once you’ve done all of that, you have to hope that there are no probate disputes. If someone challenges a will, for example, that property may not be able to be sold until that challenge is resolved—regardless of what the closing date is, or is supposed to be.

Getting Insurance

Your title company also may need certain documents, like specific court orders, before the property can be insured. The title company wants to ensure that you legally own the property as far as the public records are concerned in order to insure it and they may require more documents than would be required in a typical closing.

Information for Sellers

If you are selling probate property. You do need to disclose that the property is subject to a probate proceeding. You also don’t want to list property without authority—for example, listing property at what you see as a fair price, only to find out later that the judge or the beneficiaries don’t agree with you.

If the sale does finish, you may need a court order transferring ownership, as the death certificate alone will not prove sale or the chain of title.

Call the West Palm Beach probate lawyers at The Law Offices of Larry E. Bray today for help with any real estate issues in your probate case.

Sources:

empathy.com/probate/probate-property-sales-in-florida-what-to-know

propertyonion.com/education/how-to-find-and-buy-probate-properties-in-florida/