home ownership

[turbach]

My jurisdiction is: Pennsylvania, united states

I live in Philadelphia, and I have since 1987 with my dad, he passed away on 11/02/2007 said he was leaving me the house, he had no will or estate planning. Its paid off and I have been living in it since his death, he has one brother still living that has no interest in the house. So other than my dads brother im the only one left, what do I need to do to put the house in my name, I transfered all the bills into my name long ago and tax's will be due in February. I dont have a lot of money and the house isnt worth much but is there someone you could recommend that i could talk to and have help me with this problem. thank you

I'm not sure if I'm in the right spot for this post and I am very sorry if I'm not.
I'm new here and I have no idea what I'm doing, I just dont know where to turn.

 

[dee_dub]

If there is no spouse or other children, the entire estate passes to you under Pennsylvania's laws of intestacy. The brother has no claim.

You should apply to the registrar of wills to become executor of hte estate. As executor, you will be responsible for paying any debts owed out of the estate. If there are any assets left (including the house), you will then transfer them into your own name as beneficiary.

Most lawyers would probably be happy to give you an initial consultation about this for free or cheap. Pick one out of the phone book. Assuming the estate is just the house and there are no debts, distributing the estate should be fairly simple.

 

[turbach]

thank you

thank you very much
what type of lawyer should i seek general, real estate, wills, ?
sorry i know nothing about any of this

 

[turbach]

thank you very much
what type of lawyer should i seek general, real estate, wills, ?
sorry i know nothing about any of this

 

[dee_dub]

It's primarily an estates (note: NOT "real estate") issue. Any estates lawyer, or any general lawyer for that matter, should be able to help.