Silverton, CO Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

You may own the entire house, depending on the what the deed says. Your interest would be subject to the mortgage, however. If you do not make payments, the lender could foreclose. Whether or not to try to keep it or let it go is a completely different issue. Even without equity, if the place is in a desirable area and the payments are lower than you would get to live in a comparable place, you may want to stay. If you can find a better place for less money, you would be free to walk away. You are not personally responsible for the mortgage, so foreclosure would not affect your credit.

I would need more information to comment more on this, but at a minimum you should be entitled to 1/2 the equity value as of the date of the divorce before the parents paid off the mortgage. However, if the house was still titled as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, you now are the sole owner of the house. You definitely are going to want an attorney to at least review all the facts and perhaps need to negotiate with his estate.

FOR WEST VIRGINIA ONLY: One of the decedent's children should start the administration of the estate at the probate office at the local county commission and become Administrator of the Estate in the county where the decedent died. The Affidavit of Heirs will place the title to the real estate in the ownership of the heirs. Later you can have a deed made if you desire.