Buying a trust to buy a note sounds overly complicated to me.

Does the fact that they are a "couple" simplify things or complicate them?

If there are no other heirs or third parties making claims and this heir has been paying the bills, it shouldn't be too terribly complicated.

., and is a lot of fun, depending on how complicated you want to get and how you create your asset and liability protection.And, as mentioned... get some training on this, will pay off handsomely.

Especially with the passage of the Secure Act which further complicates things. 

If you read the foreclosure filing, hopefully it is judicial, it may give you a clue as to the balance.  

Because of how complicated this can get, you kind of need a lawyer/firm to set it up. 

It's really helpful to see several perspectives here.Yes, across 3 properties, we've been doing our own accounting/taxes, but each property we add and certainly as more investors come on, the more complex and complicated it's become.

Don’t over complicate it, sell it, take 1.5M, and build your dream home.

The more complicated question is the tax consequences, if any.