Taking Over Ownership

[StephyBoo23]

Hello, my name is Stephanie and I have a legal question about taking ownership. Well the property is in my fiancee's grandmas name and she is deceased. The house was supposed to be left to my fiancee's father, but he is deceased now. There was a will but it somehow dissappeared. The step-grandfather lives in the house right now. He cannot put the house in his name unless he has my fiancee's dad's death certificate which we have because it is in my fiancee's name. How do we go about getting the house put in my fiancee's name or can we even do it? I would really appreciate anyones help. Thank You
Sincerly
Stephanie

 

[dee_dub]

You can't put the house into somebody's name without them being entitled to it. So the big question is, who is entitled to it?

When you say it was "supposed" to be left to the father, do you mean it WAS left to him? If it wasn't, why not? What happened?

If the father died with no will, his property is divided up under the laws of intestacy of wherever it is you happen to live. Odds are it would be split evenly amongst his children. Assuming that is the case, your fiancee takes title to the house along with any other children.

By the way, "fiancee" is feminine; not assuming anything here, but you might mean "fiance", which is masculine.

 

[StephyBoo23]

We dont know who is entitled to it. The will was ripped up or destroyed so no one knows but when the step-grandfather talked to his attorney they told him the only he needs to put the house in his name was my fiance's dads death certificate. I think that means the house was left to the father. We have the cert. So what all do we need to do to start this process? There are only 3 children and two of them are in prison where they spend most of their lives. So what will happen?

 

[dee_dub]

As I said above, if a will can't be produced, then the father died intestate, and his property is divided up according to the intestacy laws. Being in jail does not disentitle the siblings to their share of the inheritance. It might be possible to title the property in your fiancee's name as trustee for the others. I don't know the mechanics of the land title laws in your state so I can't give any concrete suggestions about that. I suggest you consult with a local estates lawyer.