Easements for Highway expansion and Mortgage Company

[Alicia Marks]

I have a family situation I'm trying to help my aunts and uncles navigate and I'm hoping all of these experts have insight. My grandmother passed away last year and she was in the process of the highway department purchasing a 30 ft easement. She finally agreed on a price with them ($58k from my understanding) and they sent her $8k to secure it. Unfortunately she passed away before the full amount was paid, but my uncle has POA to talk with the mortgage company. My aunt and uncle lived with her as well and are low income and not in great health.

The mortgage company says they received a check, but won't tell the amount (of course my relatives can't find grandma's paperwork if she had any). They are now stating they are trying to renegotiate with the Highway Department because values have gone up so much. A few questions about the scenario:

1. Why could the Highway Department pay my grandmother directly, but the remainder check went to the mortgage company?

2. What kind of recourse does an owner/POA have in this situation?

3. It seems that the mortgage company says they will apply the amount to the mortgage, but my family is pretty distrusting that this will actually happen. Are their fees or junk costs they could potentially try to pass on to keep more of the funds for the bank?

4. The siblings discussed selling it, would there be any issues? I feel like a potentially changing survey for the new easement without actually owning the easement is a title nightmare. The other issue is of course that rent is more than they're currently paying, which is already a challenge for them. They were counting on getting a check for the full amount and using it to supplement to make it more affordable.

5. I have considered purchasing the property and having them rent from me, but we all know that the family aspect is a challenge. I also would want to make it clearly lined out what would happen when I chose to sell the property and what would be done with those profits. It's a very delicate situation understandably. 

I'd love to bring some tangible options back to them, as at this point they are very worried about staying in their home and how this hopeful windfall can or can't help.