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I have a question and hopefully someone has an answer or can point me in the right direction. My dad has a house that my brother has lived in for the past 20 yrs. He has been making the house payments. My dad has a will stating the house would go to to my brother when my dad passes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

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Yes, it is all he will need if your father has not been on Medicaid. There will be some technicalities. Anyone who will have a potential claim on the house (heirs) will sign a form to relinquish any claim. When the will it filed, there will be a probate period. Around here the probate period is 6 months. If there are no claims against the house in that time, the house will belong officially to your brother.

Is there a chance that Medicaid or any other company will have a lien on the house? If there is a mortgage, then your brother will have to work things out with the mortgage company, since they do have a claim on the property.
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No, he will be able to stay in the home. The only thing he will have to work through, from what you wrote, is the mortgage. I don't know how the bank will work that. It would be nice if he could just continue paying the existing mortgage, but the bank may insist on a new mortgage.
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The bank is going to want the original loan paid off -- which can be done, technically, by refinancing. I hope your brother has decent credit. If there's enough equity in the house, his credit can be pretty marginal, but still . . .

For instance (exaggerated): House is worth $250,000. There's a mortgage of $50,000 on it. It won't take stellar credit to get that mortgage at all. If he owes $235,000? He's going to need good credit.

It will help him TREMENDOUSLY that he's been paying the mortgage. With his own checks, I assume? Good job.

If you can find a copy of the mortgage documents, look for a paragraph entitled Acceleration Clause or some-such.

If your dad is still competent, you can bypass the will by putting the house in a land trust with dad as the principle beneficiary (owner of the house) and his son as contingent beneficiary. It doesn't cost much. Check with an attorney since I assume every state is different.
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How abut a Living Trust? Or add his son to Title, as Joint Tenants with right of Survivorship?
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my dad is on medicare not Medicaid so there shouldn't be any claims there. And yes there is still a mortgage on the home. During the probate period will my brother have to move out of the house?
Thank you for your help!
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I would just leave it as is if it will pass with no problems. There will be no tax burden if inherited directly. The only thing I would have worried about in the arrangement would be what if Dad had to go on Medicaid. If Medicaid is not a factor, then no worries.
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