Note: BCP Real Estate is not a law firm and its employees/owners are not acting as your attorneys. The information contained on this website is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.
When a property has been passed down through a family, the other owners can be scattered, estranged, or simply unknown to you. So it’s natural to assume you’re stuck until everyone is located and on the same page. The good news is that you don’t have to find the other heirs to take care of your own situation.
The reason is how this kind of ownership works. Each heir owns an undivided share, and yours belongs to you regardless of what the others do or whether you can even reach them. You can’t sell the entire property without the group, but your individual share is yours to sell on your own. Missing or unreachable relatives don’t lock you in place; they just stay owners of their own shares, found or not.
This is especially useful when a tax lawsuit is involved, because a property with scattered owners is exactly the kind that drifts into delinquency and gets named in a suit. You don’t have to track anyone down to get yourself out. By selling the share that passed to you, your name comes off the lawsuit, and the unreachable heirs’ shares simply remain theirs. A buyer experienced with these situations can help document your ownership as part of the process, without requiring the whole family to surface first.
A couple of quick questions:
Do I have to locate the other heirs before I can sell? No. You only need to act on your own share. The other shares stay with their owners, whether found or not, and the buyer takes over only your position.
What happens to the missing heirs’ shares after I sell? They remain the property of those heirs. Selling your share changes nothing about theirs; you simply step out and let a buyer take your spot.
If you’re looking to remove yourself from a lawsuit and get paid for your interest, no cost to you, call or text us at (469) 708-8003 for an offer today.
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