Selling a Property Back to Yourself

[Ted Klein]

Upon the death of my sister, I have been researching properties owned by her and I have found quite a lot that I need help understanding.

She was previously married and legally divorced but began living with her new partner in 1999. I might add that they were never legally married, but likely would have been common law married in the state of Kansas except that the partner apparently was a bigamist as we have since discovered that he was married to another lady from 1990 until 2019. During their partnership, they were accumulating properties, and some were purchased as husband and wife, while he was legally married to another lady.

Kansas law states: A common law marriage will be recognized in Kansas if the couple considers themselves to be married and publicly holds themselves out to be married and if they are legally eligible to marry. No minimum period of cohabitation is required.

Since Bigamy is a felony in Kansas, and he wasn't legally eligible to marry, how would these properties be purchased together be divided since he was not eligible to marry.

The 1st statutory warranty deed shows that a property was purchased in 2000 in my sister's name as the only buyer. Then in 2006 there is another statutory warranty deed showing that the same property was sold by my sister "and her partner" in 2006 back to themselves. Not sure what the significance of this was unless it was to include the partner on the deed. Would there be any issue with the way it is written with the partner as a seller in the 2006 transaction as he was never on the deed in the first place.

 Can anyone help me understand why there would be two transactions on the same property? What advice can anyone provide on how to unravel this web of real estate purchases where they are both shown as Joint Owners with rights of survivorship, but they were never legally married. How would these properties be divided amongst her children?