My mother passed away in 2000... Unknown to me that she did not pay her taxes before she died. She owed about $7500. I recently tried to sell the house, only to find that there was a lien on the house. $10,000? So I got a lawyer involved to help me figure this out. Once the lawyer was involved... it shot up to over $14,000! The IRS said it was interest on the estate. How is it legal for the IRS to collect interest on a DEAD woman? Not to mention, tack on $4000 worth of interest in only 4 months? My lawyer has been no help at all. I have been able to talk with him only 1 time in the last 5 months and this has been going on for over 1 1/2 years now.