I have a question and hopefully someone has an answer or can point me in the right direction. My dad has a house that my brother has lived in for the past 20 yrs. He has been making the house payments. My dad has a will stating the house would go to to my brother when my dad passes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
Is there a chance that Medicaid or any other company will have a lien on the house? If there is a mortgage, then your brother will have to work things out with the mortgage company, since they do have a claim on the property.
For instance (exaggerated): House is worth $250,000. There's a mortgage of $50,000 on it. It won't take stellar credit to get that mortgage at all. If he owes $235,000? He's going to need good credit.
It will help him TREMENDOUSLY that he's been paying the mortgage. With his own checks, I assume? Good job.
If you can find a copy of the mortgage documents, look for a paragraph entitled Acceleration Clause or some-such.
If your dad is still competent, you can bypass the will by putting the house in a land trust with dad as the principle beneficiary (owner of the house) and his son as contingent beneficiary. It doesn't cost much. Check with an attorney since I assume every state is different.
Thank you for your help!