Advice on Acquiring Property in Probate

[Jared Pinkus]

I found a property in probate that I am interested in purchasing but I've been given the runaround.

The property owner passed away four years ago and has been vacant ever since. I have contacted the County Register of Probate, County Treasurer and City Administrator. Nobody seems to know whom to contact to make an offer. Needless to say, there are four years of back taxes and the property will go into foreclosure but that won't happen for another year. Does anyone have experience purchasing a property in probate? I'd love to know how to acquire this property.

[Frank Chin]

@Jared Pinkus

There was a recent discussion of the subject: Vacant property in probate

My mom in law just passed over a year ago. In her case, there's a will, heirs, assets left behind to be bequeathed, and the whole process to about a year and a half. We had to front the fees to get the process started, about $3,500, which was recovered. My wife is the executor and took charge of assets dispositions and obtained all the legal documents.

On the other extreme, there are estates where there is no will, heirs cannot be found. Then there are others where the debt exceeds the assets, someone had to front the fees to get estate probated, do the work, and at the end wind up with nothing, or take a loss, because liabilities greatly exceeds the assets.

You have to find out which one of these scenarios this particular estate falls under.

I bought properties at foreclosure auctions where the debts and liabilities exceeds the value of the asset. The VP of the bank at the auction explained that their protocol calls for a committee to determine when to sell if they have to take a loss, and in the case of the property I got, it's usually 3 years. 

If you follow normal procedures, it can take years. They usually don't want to tell you who's in charge as it would lead to payoffs, corruption as I described in the above link.