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.
Not everyone who ends up on a tax lawsuit had a close relationship with the deceased original owner.
“I hadn’t spoken to my mother in years before she passed.”
“My father and I weren’t on good terms when he died.”
“I haven’t seen that side of the family in decades.”
“I wasn’t even in the will.”
If you were estranged from the person whose property is now in a tax lawsuit, getting pulled back into the situation can feel particularly frustrating. You may have spent years intentionally keeping distance from that part of your life, and now a paperwork process is pulling you back in.
Here’s what’s going on, in plain terms.
Tax lawsuits don’t work based on personal relationships. They work based on legal heirship. If the deceased person passed away without probate being filed, ownership of the property flows to the next of kin under Texas intestacy laws. Whether you were close to that person or hadn’t spoken to them in twenty years doesn’t change your legal position. You’re still a descendant. You still have an inherited interest. And the county will list you as a defendant when they research the family tree.
Even being intentionally left out of a will doesn’t always remove you from the legal heirship picture. If the will wasn’t probated, or if the property wasn’t fully addressed in the will, the property may pass through intestacy regardless of what the will said.
The good news is that you don’t have to engage with the family dynamics to remove yourself from the lawsuit. Selling your individual portion is a transaction between you and the buyer, not a family conversation.
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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