FLORIDA.
Hello all! I’ll try to give as much detail as possible.
My cousin and her fiancé bought a house from a flipper. They used a VA backed loan to buy the house.
The investor obviously did lots of major work on the house. My cousin had solar panels installed and is paying a monthly payment to pay those off.
My cousin has owned her house for probably a year and a half.
Last week, my cousin received a court summons and has 20 days to respond.
Basically, the original owners purchased the house brand new in the 1970s. The husband had children from another marriage, so it was him and his second wife that bought the new house together. The husband died and the wife continued to live in the house until she passed in 2020. The wife’s cousin obtained the house and sold it to an investor in 2021. The investor did major remodeling and sold it to my cousin in 2022.
Who is suing? The husband’s children from the previous marriage. They are looking to receive their late father’s house back AND for my cousin to continue to be responsible for the mortgage.
This sounds like an absolute mess. My first response was “They can’t do that??!”
But then I was made aware of Florida’s “Inheritance law”. According to that law, it sounds like when the husband died, the wife and children from the previous marriage should have owned the house 50/50. How did the wife’s cousin end up obtaining and selling the house? I’m not sure. I don’t know if there was a will or any of those details.
Anyone have experience of how all of this would play out or any advice? lol. It sounds like my cousin may end up getting royally screwed in this. They’re meeting with an attorney tomorrow and I may have more details after that.
My response would be one that would trigger these greedy jerks like no tomorrow. Flat out … “If you have a problem, see the preacher at a local church. He will punch your ticket for you. You ain’t getting this house”.
Title insurance is required in FL, so your cousin has it. He needs to call the title insurance company and let them sort it out.And would wish to know the insurance reputation.
Regardless of title insurance, the profits from the sale of the house were acquired by the wife’s cousin. That’s who should be liable. I don’t see how this stands in court as two separate parties 1. the wife’s cousin and 2. the flipper have already profited from the sale of this property.
Also, isn’t there a statue of limitations on inheritances/estates? Anyone can sue for any reason, personally i would not waste a lawyers fee on this and see what the judge says ha.
It’s not really even a title issue. Go to court and let the suing people figure out the hard way that their only damages are with the estate and the wife’s cousin. They are trying to drag your cousin into their domestic issues. The judge will laugh.
I’m currently dealing with a situation involving my family. My uncle is trying to sell my grandma’s house, but they never set up a living trust, which means we have to go through probate. My uncle, dad, and their sister were listed on the deed, but since my dad and his sister have passed away, their heirs—my two brothers and me, along with my aunt’s three kids—now have shared ownership of the property in Illinois.
My uncle has been attempting to sell the house without informing us. All six of us heirs are refusing to sign over our shares to him or submit the necessary paperwork to receive our portion when the house sells. Every time I see that an offer has been made on Redfin, I call the realtor to let them know about the other heirs involved. We’ve successfully stopped him from selling the house three times now.
I have seen this happen and generally speaking the title insurer will validate if they have a claim and if they do then they will try and buy them off. The absolute worst case scenario is they somehow force your cousin to relinquish the house but he would be compensated. That being said I have never seen it happen and most times the people suing take the money. No idea what will happen to the person who sold the house though
They had to have at least Lenders title insurance as it is required. The lender needs to be notified at once of course, their title insurance will handle it. In this case, they wouldn’t need the Owners title insurance as the lender title insurance will handle any potential claims.
If your cousin purchased the home with a mortgage, she has title insurance, at least a lender’s policy, so that company would get involved if they overlooked something as major as potential heirs who were that recent.
That title insurance information will be on the paperwork from when she closed, she should try to contact them ASAP to let them know what is going on.
This situation is called a quiet title, and I’m actually going through it right now because I recently bought a house. The seller purchased it from someone who didn’t properly finish probate 20 years ago, which is why we’re in this mess.
I strongly suggest you get a lawyer and file a claim with your title insurance company.
Just keep in mind that the title policy will only cover what you originally invested. If you end up losing the house, you might have to sue the other owner to get paid back for any improvements you’ve made. I’d recommend holding off on putting in that pool until everything is sorted out.
Your cousin needs to find her final title policy, or title commitment, and call the title company to make a claim. Now.