I'm getting in touch with an eviction lawyer and am trying to get into contact with the current tenant but I'll have to essentially catch him at home as I don't have his phone number.

Does he need to get a lawyer and if so, any suggestions?

So from that aspect I'd say its a good learning experience, however, with regard to the specific situation of the current people living there thats a good discussion for a local realestate lawyer. 

He will no longer deal with the title company and this lawyer so I have chosen to seek a new attorney based title company to be sure no more legal issues arise to delay this further since the family member will sign but not to these people.

Move quickly and hire a lawyer from day 1.

If you just go to a lawyer, they will always push for the thing that gets them the most billable hours 

So, if there was a credit card judgment against your borrower, you would contact the lawyer who represented the credit card company (their name is on the certificate of judgment in the real estate records) and pay the money over to that lawyer. 

The Lawyers!

This way they don’t have to uphold the properties or care for the health and safety of their tenants because they know people are desperate and likely won’t be able to afford a lawyer.

I went ahead and just recommended that they get lawyers involved and go from there.