Sell Your House in Texas with the Affidavit of Heirship | Avoid Probate

Table of Contents

• What is an Affidavit of Heirship used for?
• What does the Affidavit of Heirship accomplish?
• When is an Affidavit required?
• What are the witnesses in an Affidavit of Heirship form?
• How to correctly implement the Heirship Affidavit?

Distribution of property to the heirs of the deceased can be very complex in extended families, especially when someone dies without a will. The Affidavit of Heirship is a document that helps harmonize the process of distributing the estate of the deceased person without going through the probate process.

The last will is often the document that governs how the decedent’s estate will be controlled. Most people prefer using the affidavit of heirship document in situations where the deceased didn’t leave instructions on how the property will be disbursed because the probate court process if expensive and tedious.

The Affidavit of Heirship is supposed to describe and authenticate your relationship with the deceased. Firstly, you ought to input your name and address when filling the affidavit of Heirship. Secondly, you will answer all the questions on the form in regards to the loved one’s life: date of death, place of death, residence at time of death, siblings, children and other relatives like nephews and nieces. You can also be asked to describe your relationship with the decedent and how long you have known each other. It’s a detailed set of questions that are structured with an intention of determining your exact relationship with the deceased person.

Once you have comprehensively filled the affidavit of Heirship form, you should file it with the county clerk to establish you as the heir of your loved one’s estate. The process of estate settlement will be faster when there is need of a court ruling about the issue. Although every state has its own rules that govern the application of the affidavit of Heirship, the document can be very helpful when all heirs of an estate agree on the distribution of the property. The document is also used for bank accounts.

Once the heirs of the decedent’s property have been considered the legal owners of the estate, they can virtually do anything they want with it. HouseBuyerSanAntonio.com is a cash buyers of houses in San Antonio, Texas who can help you get money quickly from the property you inherited and probably use the funds for other life commitments or business investments.

The affidavit of Heirship should be used to identify who the legal heirs of an estate are, what the estate is, and who benefits from the estate’s ownership. By specifying who the rightful heirs of the property are, the affidavit establishes the rights and responsibilities of the heirs in regards to the disposing of the decedent’s property and wrap up all matters on behalf of the decedent. The affidavit should have a list of properties owned by the deceased and establish the exact property to be transferred to the heirs. For land, the affidavit should have descriptions similar to what is found on a title deed.

The affidavit acts as an instrument for transferring property ownership to heirs. Hence, the affidavit can be used in lieu of deed transfers. In case of land, the affidavit has to be filed with the county recorder, just as is the case with a deed, to establish ownership of the concerned piece of land.

When disposing or transferring a deceased person’s estate to the heirs, it’s important to document that the legal right of title has been transferred from the deceased to the heirs. In some cases, an affidavit ought to be processed for a deed transfer to be effected even when a will has been probated to establish the legal ownership of an inherited property. If the deceased passed away without filling the last legal will, the affidavit of Heirship can identify the estate left behind, the legal heirs and how they should be distributed without consulting the probate court. In other words, the affidavit speeds up the whole process of transferring the property of the deceased.

Some people prefer executing the option of an affidavit of Heirship even in situations where the deceased left behind a will on how his or her property should be disbursed upon dying. When there is no dispute over how the loved one’s estate should be distributed amongst the heirs, an affidavit can expedite the process of disbursing the estate flawlessly. The heirs will agree unanimously to execute the deceased person’s wishes without going to probate court.

The primary parties are the heirs: spouse, living children, former spouse, blood relatives or friends of the deceased person, and a registered domestic partner. It’s not common, however, to include almost everyone who knew the decedent because all heirs are supposed to be agreement for the affidavit to be executed.

The laws regarding the witness under oath, who may attest to the filled and signed affidavit of Heirship, differ from state to state. In most states, you should have one or more witnesses who are not related to deceased or interested in gaining from the property. This helps in avoiding any sort of conflict of interest where the witnesses may have an incentive to lie about certain details in the affidavit.

Therefore, it’s very critical to know the state laws governing affiants or persons allowed to attest to your affidavit of Heirship. The witnesses are also supposed to know the deceased person, the day he passed away, names and birthdates of his heirs and whether he had any outstanding debts at the time of death. The affiants are also required to swear that they don’t intend to benefit from the estate and can be held for perjury if found guilty of falsifying information on the affidavit.

Once the affidavit has been signed by the affiants in front of the notary, the document can be accepted as legal proof of heir-ship and consequent transfer of ownership. In some states, the affidavit has to be approved by a probate court. In case, a will (that was signed by the decedent) is in the process of being probated in court, then the affidavit will also have to be presented for approval before the probate process can be concluded. For land, the affidavit of Heirship has to be filed with the county recorder’s department in the county where the land is situated.

If you are not familiarized with the procedure of filling an affidavit of Heirship and the particular requirements of your state in regards to this document, you should hire an attorney familiar with estate laws. The attorney will help you with the complex process of dealing with the county recorder and probably the probate court. It’s not a must that you should keep the inherited property even when you don’t like it or it doesn’t suit your lifestyle. Once you have the right of ownership over all or/and part of the decedent’s estate, as an heir, you can sell a home that you inherited to us and invest the proceeds according to your personal preferences.

Sources:

• http://www.lonestarlandlaw.com/Affidavits.html
• http://home.bexar.org/probate/
• http://comptroller.texas.gov/taxinfo/taxforms/53-111-a.pdf
• http://info.legalzoom.com/affidavit-heirship-spouse-dies-21576.html

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