By Jake Sorensen | Escrow Officer | Draper Office
Sometimes we are involved in a transaction in which one or all the people on the title of a property have passed away. When this situation arises, there are some important steps we need to take, to make sure a clean transaction takes place. If you know or think that there may be a person involved with property that has passed away, it is important to notify your escrow team as soon as possible. They will verify how title was held and put together a plan of what will need to be done. If title was held as “joint tenants” it can be as easy as having an affidavit signed and recorded. However if title was held as “tenants in common” it can be a little more complicated, and in some cases even require going through probate. If your client says they have a Power of Attorney for the person that passed away, it is important to remember that the Power of Attorney is no longer valid after the person has passed away. Remember, there isn’t anything on a PR to notify us a party is deceased, so the sooner we know about these situations the better.