My father passed away a couple of months ago leaving only his home in his estate. The house is titled in my late parents' names. His will leaves 50% of the home to me and the other half split between my two nephews. It's not worth more than $25,000. We haven't decided when to put the home for sale, but when we do, we don't expect the house to sell anytime soon. Is it ok to leave the house titled as is until we decide to sell it? Is there another way to get the title changed other than probate?
You would have to do some form of probate to have the names changed on the deed. You can wait to probate it and sell it through the estate if you choose and the executor of the will can be the one to conduct the sale and the proceeds would go into the estate and they can be distributed to the heirs. If the total value of the estate including all property is less than $30,000, then small estate probate can be used, which is done by filing a small estate affidavit together with the will. If the estate is more than that you will need to conduct full probate. Either way the estate can sell the home and then probate completed, but you will have to at least file to open the will in probate to being selling so the buyer can properly change the deed.
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Until the house is put for sale, which may be a few years from now, is it ok to leave the deed titled in my parents' names?
Yes, you may, people do it all of the time.
My dad also has a small car, not even mentioned before because it's not valued at more than $4,000. I am the executor of his will. Does the car need probated too?
I am afraid that everything has to be probated and the only way to properly change the title on the car to sell it or even register it is through probate.