Property disputes often arise when someone claims to be an heir of a deceased person who died many years earlier. The claimant asserts rights to real property based on alleged parentage. No probate estate was ever opened, so this isn’t technically a probate litigation case. No court has ever determined heirship. The property has changed...KEEP READING

Family disputes over inherited property often begin with incomplete information. Someone dies intestate. A surviving relative prepares an affidavit of heirship listing who inherited the property. That affidavit gets filed in the real property records. Years pass. The property changes hands. Then another heir surfaces—someone who was left off the original affidavit—and claims an ownership...KEEP READING

Family histories get passed down through generations. This can be important when someone dies owning property and without a will. These family histories can dictate who ends up owning the property. So what if there are conflicts in the renditions of the histories? And what if there is other evidence? These can be tricky questions. […]KEEP READING