Is there any way to find out who the sale of a

[cancerman1138]

house went to without going to a real estate agent? My grandmother passed away in 2001. Her boyfriend who recently passed away in 2006. He was the last resident of the house. . The house was sold in Marh 2007 for 400,000 and some change. My mother just recently found out that her brother was on the deed to the house. And he NEVER signed his name OFF of it. My grandmother however did sign the house over to her boyfriend when she was getting treatment for her cancer (so they wouldn't go after the house after she died for the monies on her medical) I just want to know if there is any way of knowing who got the sale of the house. Plus all my grandmothers things. So I guess my question is even if she did sign the house over to him, Does my Uncle (my mothers brother) still have a legal right to some of the monies of the house? Cause he had NEVER signed his name off the deed??
Thank you so much for any answers on this. It is very much appreciated.
All my best

[Snackie]

The sale of the house would be recorded with your local county clerk's office. You might be able to search online as well. Unless your grandmother stated in writing that she was giving the house to your uncle, she was legally able to dispose of the house as she wished. I'm sorry, it sounds like everyone got screwed in this.

[dvdgarofalo]

There are different types of ownership to real estate. Generally if two people are on the deed, the property cannot sell unless both agree. In some cases one person can sell or give away their portion without the permission of the other person on the deed. The first thing I would do is check the county office to see if your uncle was actually on the deed or not. A title search would normally find this. When the house sold the seller or buyer should have done a title search. If they did and nothing was found then he may have never actually been on the deed. On the other hand, if it was a distressed sale maybe they did not do a thorough title search. Or like with one of my purchases the title was not cleared. If you are SURE your uncle was on the deed, I would then call a lawyer and ask for advice. Hope it goes ok.

[pibzz]

First step is to check the deed. If both your grandmother and uncle are on the deed, you need to see how title was held. You also need to make certain that deed was recorded.

Two ways to hold title, TENANTS IN COMMON and JOINT TENANTS. If your grandmother and uncle held title as JOINT TENANTS, then the title automatically passed to your uncle upon her death, meaning your uncle is the sole owner. If it was held as TENANTS IN COMMON, then your uncle still potentially still holds some title. Either way its worth him looking into.

A joint tenant can NOT will, quitclaim, or sell her interest. So if Grandmom ?signed the house over? to her boyfriend, and she was a joint tenant, that deed is suspect and potentially void.

If title was held as TENANTS IN COMMON then your Grandmother could transfer her share only (to her boyfriend) but would have no legal authority to transfer your uncles share.

This sounds like a big mess. Depending on the state, you may be able to get a property profile from a real estate broker who orders it from a title company. (this usually costs nothing) This will give the chain of title, and tell how the latest owner became the owner.

It is also possible that the house was sold due to taxes and / or a mortgage not being paid, in which case your uncle is out of luck.

You will need to view the chain of title to see what happened, if you're not comfortable reading a chain of title, spend $250 or so to talk to a real estate lawyer, who should be able to tell exactly what happened for a nominal amount of money.

A good real estate lawyer should have access to the public records from his office, (Lexis Nexis, or DataQuick or some similar site) and can pull up the property, and tell you what happened in just 10 or 15 min.