Mortgage Lien/ Title Clearing

[Adrianne Morris]

My grandmother transferred a house to me via a quit claim deed. I order a title search and found that there’s a mortgage lien on the house for $50,000. The house was never foreclosed on and no payments have been made in 7 years. My mom seems to believe the mortgage may be invalid somehow because of the length of time with no action.  What do you suggest as far as clearing the title? 

[Anthony Dooley]

You need to have a real estate attorney do a proper title search. They will contact to lien holder to find out if the lien has been paid, but not properly recorded. If there is a lien, it will need to be paid if you ever expect to sell it. There is a time limit bases on your state law for how long the lien can stay on the title, like 50 years.