Originally posted by @Steve VanKast:
An older friend died who had a daughter. She had no will and claimed she "signed her house over to Medi-Cal in order to receive benefits. The tax role says it's still in her name. The daughter has not reported the death and was planning not to and just letting "them" take the house because she assumed there was more debt on the house than it was worth.
I like the house. It's right next door to my apartment complex and it's in horrible shape in a run down rural neighborhood. Kind of my specialty.
I called Medi Cal asking questions in general and they didn't have a clue. I assume the house would go into probate and that their debt is more than the house is worth. Where do I go from here? I thought perhaps to make a token offer to the daughter for a quit claim deed and have her or me report the death to Medi Cal and finding out how much is owed. There may also be some Medi Care or other debt.
Seems like a quit claim deed from the daughter would be enough to pay a title company to do a title search. Would the Medi Cal debt show up on that or would I have to wait till after the death is reported to them to find that out? I know nothing about how probate works. Should I ask the daughter to appoint me as executor of the estate in order to let me deal with the court in addition to a quit claim deed or be going another route entirely?
If there is more debt than it's worth I'm thinking that the court will order the property sold to pay for it. Perhaps I'd be better off trying to buy it outright from whoever the court appoints than buying it from the daughter.
Hi Steve.
I;m not sure what state you are in, but here in CA here's what I would say.
Is there a mortgage on the property or is the presumed debt just from Medical etc?
I would get a pre-lim report from title, along with getting the daughter to fill out a 'statement of Information' with the moms details so title can process to see if any personal liens are against the mom and the property. When you have that information, then you'll be able to assess a way forward.
If it turns out there are more debts against the property than its worth, then i'd personally walk away from it. The daughter can't just quit claim it over to you, probate has to be filed first, and who is going to pay the cost of the probate?
Lets assume the pre-lim and SI comes back good and the there is equity. I would then propose a partnership with the daughter. If she can't pay for probate, then you have to make a decision to see if you risk is worth it to pay probate and then hope she stands by her word to sell the property once probate is complete. Legally, she can't sign a purchase contract with you until she officially owns the property after probate is filed.
The pre-lim report may or may not show debts from medical, but for sure with the SI title would be satisfied with that.
Hope that helps.
