What to do if Property owner may be deceased?

Question

Hey guys,

I'm doing some research on a pre-foreclosure property that is about to go to auction in the next 2 months and I just saw the possibility that the only person in the title of the property may be deceased since 2004. I have tried to do some research to see and verify if he's actually alive but I have not had any luck. Is there a way that I can verify if he's alive? The County property appraisal sites shows that there has been no transactions ever made since the property was bought. So my next question is what do I do if the property owner it's actually deceased?

I live in South Florida Broward County.

Any help will be much appreciated

Mike S. · Answer

Most counties have court case record search. You can search the probate cases under that name.

To read the full case you will need a subscription, but most header records access are free.

Mark Pedroza · Answer

Perhaps @Long D. can chime in. His practice covers all of Florida..

Fred Engh · Answer

My thoughts:

http://www.ssdi-search.com/   I just checked. So-so. I don't know how up to date this is, but it is free (they had something in there for paid).

If you don't have luck there or another free site you may want to contact vital records. Vital records, within the Public Health issues death certificates for Broward County.

http://broward.floridahealth.gov/certificates/deat...

They charge a fee, but it's money well spent if you think it is a good lead. I always try to find free information first.

Andres Lugo · Answer

How do I go about finding if they are paying their property taxes?

- Do I have to get/search on the tax’s delinquency list? And if so, would I be able to see if an investor payed for them?

Andres Lugo · Answer

What I'm working on is with the listings of Pre foreclosure records. I went to the court and printed out the listings (well, I actually just took pictures of the screen). This listings still don't have an Auction date. The information provided by the listings are case number, the Plaintiff vs the defendant, the case type (such as; value of the property, homestead or non-homestead) file date/Status and the State reporting number.  As I look at the case. The Bank is going towards a person who does not appear as the Current property owner. This person does not own any property in the county. Yet  as I look further in to the case, I saw that he did purchased a property with his wife in 2004. In 2009 they filed for Divorce. In 2010 he signed a Quit Claim Deed and the sole owner of the property was now his wife.  From what I have been able to understand so far is that she (the sole owner) passed away earlier in 2018, but I have not been able to completely verify this by an official source. So ever since 2010 she has been the only owner, yet the bank has the husband as the defendant.

This brings me to a few questions.

-How do I know if a property has gone through Probate? (I’m planning to go to the courts) yet I want to find a faster and much more efficient way.

I still have not been able to find an official website that lets me know if a person is deceased.

She has 3 kids. And the oldest one seems to be 21 or just under. He has custody of the other siblings.

- Also now that she passed away, who is the owner of the Property? Or who has the legal right to the property.

Brett Goldsmith · Answer

You'd need to locate the potential heirs if it wasn't in a trust and likely go through probate. Last minute probate deals with a looming sale date are sensitive and often challenging situations.

Fred Engh · Answer

Social security death database lists people who have died. There are a lot of other companies that have the database in their website, but I have had issues with it (it was out of date, I ran tests of people I knew were dead and weren't listed).

It is not uncommon to leave the house in someone's name and just keep paying the bills.

If there is an estate, it's likely that there is a Personal Representative assigned to handle their affairs. It being about to foreclose, this may not be applicable in your situation.

Have you sent a letter? Are you trying to buy it before it is foreclosed on? Are you close to the property and can you visit? Talk to the neighbors (they're frequently a wealth of information).

Mark Weinstock · Answer

Is someone paying the property taxes

Lesane T. Johnson · Answer

Don't you deal with the bank on a pre-foreclosure property? Probably not a big deal if the owner is deceased. Looks as though there was no claim on his estate, or his possible heirs didn't want to inherit the debt. Likely a good deal.