Property with owner deceased for 2yrs, kids don’t want

[Mikaeel Abdulwakil]

I found a property while driving for dollars, I’m in Northeastern FL. Property is in terrible disarray. Skip traces the owner he has been dead for 2 years. Contacted his children, they want nothing to do with property. Have not and will not file for probate, don’t want any liability for condition of property or liens on property. Daughter is willing to sign property over to me. How do I proceed being that technically she doesn’t have legal authority to do this?!?!

[Davido Davido]

@Mikaeel Abdulwakil,  Get a Notarized "Assignment of Interest" from the daughter or a Quit Claim Deed granting all of her interest, if any, to you, or get both.  In either case include a one or two sentence statement "affidavit" in which she specifies her relationship as "daughter" of the deceased owner of record.  The Quit Claim deed will not grant you valid "title" to the property but it does give you arguable "color of title" -meaning at least some arguable claim to a having a legally recognizable interest in the property.  I'd record the Assignment and the Quit Claim Deed and take over the property as though it were my own.   

From there your actions depend on your goals/plans for the property.   

1. You can attempt to probate the property yourself. You would have the Assignment of the daughter's interest in the property. So you should be able to do anything she could -like start probate.

2.  It may be possible to use the Quit Claim deed, along with your uncontested possession and occupancy of the property to immediately file a suit to Quiet the Title in your name, but as @Wayne Brooks has indicated, most judges want the property go through probate.  Still, some judges require little more than proof that all known descendant's have been notified of your Quiet Title filing. If no one else answers or appears to make a claim (as your post suggests would be the case in this instance), the judge can simply rule in your favor and the title is yours.  Even in states where the law appears to require probate, a court ruling that Quiets Title in your name gives you salable and usually insurable title.  And, if you file Quiet Title paperwork yourself (since you're expecting it to be uncontested), this option can be your quickest path to a clear title as it is usually quicker and cheaper than probate.  Filing a suit to Quiet Title; costs you only the filing fee, and cost of serving the other descendants to find out.

3. Once you get the Quit Claim deed, pay the taxes and rent the property out for 7 years then file for title under a claim of adverse possession. However, be aware that during those 7 years, any descendant with a legally recognizable interest in the property can contest your claim and your possession of the property. From your post that sounds unlikely but it is possible. If your claim to the property was eventually contested, and if a court ruled partially or completely against you, then you would most likely not be entitled to recoup $ that you spent improving the property. Generally you could recover all $ you paid for property taxes, and generally you can recover all the $ that you can show was necessary for maintenance, plus if you are forced to turn over rents, you can ask for the local "normal and ordinary" property management fee (provided you have a property management business license and maintained a semblance of professional business practices).  In this option, it is often possible to rent out a property "as is" at a significantly reduced rent in exchange for someone willing to do improvements.  I would suggest using the $ you do receive as rent for materials.  That way improving the property costs you nothing out of pocket (except paying the taxes.   Usable structures with utilities that are posted this way on Craigslist always get multiple responses.  Just be careful to pick someone who will actually improve the property and not burn it down.