Darren Findling of The Probate Pro discusses the process of becoming the owner of abandoned property.

(833) PROBATE
https://www.TheProbatePro.com

Free Forms: https://www.TheProbatePro.com/Probate...

Facebook:   / theprobatepro  
LinkedIn:   / the-probate-pro-plc  
Instagram:   / theprobatepro  
Twitter:   / the_probatepro  
_________________________________________________________________
Addresses:

Michigan Office:
414 W. Fifth Street
Royal Oak, Michigan 48067

Illinois Office:
1525 East 53rd Street, Ste 439
Chicago, Illinois 60615

Florida Office:
941 West Morse Blvd., Suite 100
Winter Park, Florida 32789

Please Call - (833) PROBATE
_________________________________________________________________
Legal Disclaimer:
This video is for educational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice.
Please note that these communications are not a consultation with a lawyer about the possibility of forming a client lawyer relationship with respect to a matter and do not establish an attorney-client relationship. None of the information should be considered legal advice.

The Probate Pro, PLC, QuietTitle.com and any other entities of The Darren Findling Law Firm, PLC do not claim to be an “expert” or “specialist” in their legal practice areas.

There's an abandoned property down the street that I'd like to own. Hi, I'm Darren Findling of The Probate Pro and we get this call a lot where people will notice that there is a property that is near theirs or they've driven by and they know that it's abandoned and they want to become the owner of the property so they'll contact us and say you know I think the person died years ago how do I become the owner of this abandoned property how do I become the title owner can I just go to probate court and become the owner can I somehow take some action to force the ownership from whoever it is to myself and the short answer is no you only can become the owner of a property through a conveyance through a deed and you have to buy it from an appropriate person or party when I say party I mean like a government for example if somebody fails to pay the property taxes over a period of years the property will revert back to the county and then you could buy the property at the county sale you're buying it from a party it may have been an abandoned property but it eventually got lost to back taxes and reverted back to the county on the other hand if the property is still not uh conveyed back to the county but is owned by somebody and that person is deceased you have to find somebody who is the personal representative who has the legal Authority within the estate the probate estate to be able to get a deed from that person remember properties are conveyed by Deeds they're not conveyed other ways they can be conveyed by a court order but a deed is the way you get ownership of a property so let's assume you're in this scenario where you know a person has died and they have a property and you're interested in it you want to become the subsequent owner you're going to need to find the next of kin maybe the surviving spouse maybe a child of the deeded then a probate estate has to be commenced a person has to be appointed personal representative with the issuance of letters of authority and then that person could conceivably deed the property by what we call a fiduciary deed from the deceased estate to you as the purchaser or the uh grantee of the property but you can't just become the owner now there are theories of adverse possession but that takes a long time nobody wants to wait 15 years for adverse possession before they go into the court this is typically a scenario where they want immediacy to become the owner of a property so really there are two vehicles one is to wait for the property to go back for back taxes to the county from a tax reversion and the other is to find a family member who has the legal standing to open up the probate estate and get appointed personal representative to be able to convey the property otherwise you can't become the owner and some people will say well can I just pay the property taxes well you can but it's not going to give you ownership it's like sticking money in the meter parking meter of somebody whose meter is expiring you don't become the owner of the car you're just sticking the money in the meter similarly when you pay somebody's property taxes you're just delaying the fact that the county will eventually forfeit the property so the only way is by buying it from the county for back taxes or through the probate estate of a person who has legal authority to do so if you've got questions about probate related issues visit us at TheProbatePro.com or call us at 833 PROBATE.