Probate and connecting with the Phantom Owners

[Sean Phillips]

This is for the people that excel at Probates.  Here is my current dilemma.  I have found a property that the listed owner died in 2011.  The Property is currently condemned, has code enforcement on it and Taxes for this year (2016) havent been paid.   Some one is paying taxes, from 2011-2015.  There was foreclosure action against the house but the bank vacated the foreclosure.  In fact in the letter to vacate the bank charged off the loan.  I have looked in the court records for Estate/Probate information and I am not seeing anything for the this person.  I did note that there was another person "of interest" in the Foreclosure and have just mailed a letter to them to discuss.  

My Questions are the following:

1.  What am I missing?  What should I be looking for and how?

2. If a person has a will does the will still need to be processed in Probate court?

I have 2 other cases much like this.  Where the estate address is the property address and the taxes are being paid.  Just trying to find a contact to discuss.

Thanks

[Mark Pedroza]

@Sean Phillips

Pull the death certificate. Whomever filled it out is your first point of contact. Could be any relative, any aquantice....