Selling deceased husband's house without a Will

On Mar 30, 6:38 am, "bratty" <skd0...@aol.com> wrote:
> My husband passed away, we never got around to getting a will.

Sorry to hear about your loss.   How many years ago was this?

> obtained an attorney he started probate procedures, in the mist of
> almost having it completed he retired,

Did you know this?   Did you get another attorney to finish the process?  If not, do so now.

<irrelevant stuff snipped>

>I decided to sell the house.  We found a buyer, it's
> suppose to close next week, the attorney that was obtained to the
> reading of the abstract said the probate was never completed.

You don't say what state you were in originally, but AFAIK all states permit the PR of an estate to buy and sell assets on behalf of the estate, to convert them into cash if you wish, before probate is closed.   The attorney you retain to help you finish probate can advise you on this.   If you begin by contacting an estates-and-trusts attorney near where you live now, he can if necessary associate himself with an attorney in your previous state, or can just refer the matter to that out-of-state attorney for you.   In the meantime, you may want to see about getting your OWN will done, so your daughter doesn't wind up in this awful situation when YOU pass away, as all of us do sometime.

> have a buyer, and i'm faced with completeing the probate in a timely
> mannor, can this be done?

Ask your settlement lawyer, and/or your not-yet-retained probate lawyer.   I don't see why you would need to FINISH probate process before you can sell the house; in fact I would presume that in many cases a PR can't finish probate UNTIL AFTER selling the house, because otherwise there wouldn't be a cash asset that can be used to pay creditors.   So whatever state you were in, and even if your estate has no creditors, I bet there is a way to do this.

> I am the personal representative of the
> estate.  we put the adds in the paper.. we had no creditors, and no
> heirs responded.  under the estate guidlines, I don't owe any estate
> taxes.. can I sell the home as :  "estate of - - - " or can I ask a
> judge to place an order into effect allowing me to sell the home?

Ask one or both of your lawyers.  As PR, you can probably do the former and don't have to do the latter.

>  I'M STUCK!

No you're not.   Just start asking the right questions of the right people.   Good luck,

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Mike Jacobs
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