Legal advice: Heir's right to repurchase property liability

Has anyone had experience with this situation? My father sold real estate in 1969 and in the Quit-Claim Deed he reserved the right to repurchase the land. The property is in Alaska. I sold out there a few years ago and live permanently in the lower 48 now. My father passed away in 2001. Now because I'm his son I get a summons this week where the son of the person my father sold to wants to quiet title. I have no interest in the land and will say just that. But the son is also asking that I pay for all of his legal and court costs.

Any advice on what I need to do to avoid the legal fees and court costs?

 

Tell him you'll sign free of charge if he sends you the paper work. Otherwise, if you're going to pay someone's legal fees, they'll be your own when you start the process of challenging the title.

 

thats interesting..

IMO (this is not legal advice) the only way to avoid "legal" fees and "court" costs is to study law. not something you can comprehend in a few weeks or even years.


I suggest you might look for Karl Lentz on youtube to get an idea how you might proceed with your court issues without legal fees.

get a certified copy of your dads contract though.. if he drew that up, he must have had some knowledge in common law that has bound the legal system.

seems like a good example of how private law trumps public law, you could learn alot from this.

dont panic! you did nothing wrong.

 

after thinking more about it, the thought occurs that someone is trying to get something for nothing here!

wants you to act without compensation, worse actually, they want you to pay for the act!

I would find out who that man is and politely tell them if they insist that you preform then you require compensation or maybe even tell them to go pound sand since they didnt handle it man to man first. they could have contacted you and just explained the situation and asked instead of using intimidation.

sounds like you are not obligated to perform in anyway here, do you have siblings and did they also get this "summons" (those are for the dead BTW)

 

Where is the property and how much is it worth? If he gives you any crap, tell him you'll accept the first right of refusal and sell it to me. I don't really need any more property in AK, but if the price and location are right I might consider it.

Ken

 

this could be as simple as signing off on it. it could be as complicated as realizing that the negotiated contract would make it quite lucrative for you get a lawyer and fight the quiet title action, or to purchase the property and then re-sell. or, you could find out you don't have any legal rights in the property at all.

you need to see the contract.

 

What a fucking nerve! The guy wants you to do him a favor and pay for it too? Tell him you will assign him any legal right you and your heirs might have to the property for the one time fee of $1000 plus legal costs.

 

you may also want to cross reference this plot of land with any commercial or residential development that is going on in the area. Also look at mineral rights and oil rights. It is Alaska.

 

Don't guess and don't take just anybody's word for what to do. Contact a real estate attorney for proper advice.

The only experience that I've had with a quit claim is an instance where my wife's step mother had been left the use of the family home until she either married or died when my wife's Dad died, then it would go permanently to my wife's younger brother. My wife was named executor of her Dad's will is the reason she and I were involved.

Her step mother, instead of living in the house, rented the property and then did not keep the insurance up to date. When the renter's son set fire to the house the step mom didn't have the money to pay for the repairs so we had her sign a quit claim deed to release the property so it would go to the permanent heir. This was in lieu of having to sue the step mother for damages.

Having said all that; in our experience the quit claim deed only released the property from the person temporarily and legally occupying the property due to the orders of the will.

An attorney can clear it all up and I would doubt that it would cost much.

 

C'mon….isn't a motorcycle racers forum a good place to get legal info

 

I'm not an attorney either, but i do a lot of title work. It's not unusual for a seller to reserve the right to repurchase. It's also not unusual for the buyer's title company to want documentation before insuring the title. In my experience, there's really not much need for the court to quiet title, unless something is missing from the chain of title. If all the interests are accounted for, title companies are usually satisfied with death certificates, heirship affidavits, and quitclaim deeds. You should still consult a good real estate attorney to make sure all the bases are covered, but unless the other party is determined to make a mountain out of a molehill, this shouldn't be much more than an inconvenience for you.

 

If you truly have a successor claim to the right of first refusal he should be paying you. 15% of the value of the property for removing your option would be not be out of the realm. For sure don't pay him anything.

 

I was thinking that this was probably possible. You should be paid, not paying.

 

This would be one of my first thoughts as well. Why does he want it?

 

He signed a contract with your father, now he wants to renegotiate that contract, why should you pay anything except any fees related to your own representation?

 

You were not party to the contract, unless your dad wrote into the sale that his heirs had rights as successor, I don't see where you would have any legal standing. I am not a lawyer, but I did pass by a Holiday Inn Express within the last 72 hours.