Hamilton, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

If "you" are a couple, then you actually should each have a Will. While there is such a thing as a "joint Will," they are not favored in Georgia and don't work very well at all. So I hope you mean that you each have Wills already. "Estate planning" is the process of analyzing a given person or couple's situation (family, finances, wishes, hopes, special issues, etc) and ensuring that they have legal documents, asset titles, and beneficiary designations all set up so that the person or couple and their loved ones are protected against the potentially devastating results of a death or incapacity. So yes, you should have an estate plan. Just having a Will is generally not enough: you also should each have, at a minimum, a power of attorney and an advance directive for health care. You may also need or at least be able to benefit from having other documents, such as revocable or irrevocable trusts, depending on what kinds of assets you own, how much you are worth, and what you want to leave as your legacy. Even if you already have all of the basic documents in place, if they are more than a few years old, it might be a good idea to have them reviewed. Georgia has had a number of very significant changes to its laws in the past 2 years, and there have also been a number of significant changes in federal law. These changes may mean that the documents you currently have could be improved to better serve you and your family. It may be that you don't end up needing to make changes right now, but if you have a review it at least lets you make sure that you know if you DO need some, or if there are some that you could make that would be beneficial for you and better serve your needs. Many estate planning attorneys offer estate planning consultations free of charge and free of obligation (like my firm), and it's time well-spent on your part. Best wishes to you.

The fact that you paid for the property actually doesn't really have any bearing on ownership. If you paid for a property that was partially owned by another person, you made gifts to that person each time you made a payment that benefitted them. You don't provide one critical fact: How did you and your mother hold title to the property? If the deed clearly states that you held it as joint tenants or with rights of survivorship, then you are likely correct, and you are likely now the sole owner of the property. However, if you and your mother were both listed on the deed as owners, but the deed did not specifically and clearly create a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship between the two of you, then, assuming it is a Georgia property, your mother's interest became part of her probate estate at her death and passed either under her Will (if she had one) or under the Georgia intestacy rules if she didn't have a Will. In either case, your sister may actually own an interest in the house, because she may have received a share of your mother's interest. You should ideally sit down with an attorney and figure out what exactly happened. The attorney will need to look at the deed (which is not the Security deed, but is generally a Warranty Deed, Limited Warranty Deed, or Quit Claim Deed) for the property to see how it was titled. Depending on what that says, you may then need to have the attorney help you figure out what happened when your mother passed away. Best wishes to you.

Your mother should have dealt with the house as soon as possible after your stepfather died. His interest in the house may have become part of his probate estate at his death, depending on how the house was owned. That would happen even if no one opened a probate estate. If his name was on the deed, but he and your mother did not own the house as "joint tenants with rights of survivorship" (the deed has to say words like that or very similar), then it is very likely the case that his children now own shares in the house (for example, if this is a Georgia property, and he and your mother owned the house as "tenants in common," then your mother would own 1/2 + 1/6 of the property - her own half plus 1/3 of his half, and his children could own 4/6 of the property in equal shares.) If he and your mother owned the house as joint tenants (or, if it's not a Georgia property, they could have owned it as tenants by the entirety, which does not have to be stated on the deed, necessarily), then his interest would have transferred to her automatically. Before you move in and begin paying anything, you need to get a good probate attorney to help you figure out exactly who now owns interests in the house. If it does turn out to be all your mother's, you will still need to deal with her estate. Since she has debts, those will have to be dealt with. If they can all be dealt with without the house having to be sold to pay them, then you and your siblings (all other heirs, actually, which may not be just you and your siblings if any sibling predeceased your mother) could agree to let you and your wife take on the house. It will then need to be deeded from the estate to you. If your stepfather's interest in the house didn't pass to your mother 100% under the deed, however, then his children likely also own interests in the house and they will need to be dealt with in addition to your needing to deal with the probate estate for your mother. You will have to open a probate estate for her, however, either way. Get a good attorney; it may not be an easy job and title to real estate is too important to risk messing things up.