How Do You Know If Probate Is Necessary When Buying A Property

<p>How do you know if probate is necessary when buying a property?</p> <p>In this week’s episode of the <a href= "https://www.landprofitgenerator.com/podcast/">Forever Cash Podcast</a>, I opened the floor to our <a href= "https://www.facebook.com/groups/LandProfitGenerator">Land Profit Generator Community</a> for a Q&A Session. Priscilla Pastorp asked about probate on a deal she is working on, which opened some interesting questions.</p> <h3 id="h-what-s-inside">What’s inside:</h3> <ul> <li>What is probate?</li> <li>When does a property need to go through probate?</li> <li>When can you avoid probate?</li> </ul> <p>Priscilla posted the following question to the Land Profit Generator Group:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"> <p>“Talked to a very motivated seller who wants to sell like yesterday as he and his wife are in their early 90’s. His wife’s brother gave her the property, and she has just has just been paying the taxes for the last 20 plus years. However, she is now in long-term rehab, and the husband has POA for her. The property owner (her brother) is deceased as of 9 years ago (he was living in Germany at the time of his death). He’s never been married and doesn’t have children. Does the property still have to go through probate? How do I handle this?”</p> <cite>Priscilla Pastorp</cite></blockquote> <p>Priscilla’s question raises a few technical processes that you should understand as a <a href= "https://www.landprofitgenerator.com/">successful land investor</a>.</p> <h2 id="h-what-is-probate"><strong>What is Probate?</strong></h2> <p><a href= "https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/probate.asp">Probate is the general administration of a deceased person’s estate</a>.</p> <p>If the deceased person owned property, administrators would include the property in the probate process. The estate will be wrapped up by an appointed administrator. During this process, all liabilities will be settled, and assets distributed to beneficiaries, including the title deeds of any property.</p> <h2 id="h-when-do-you-need