Unfortunately, selling a house in probate is often following one of the hardest events a person will ever have to face. It also doesn’t help that it can be a difficult process depending on your specific situation.
In general, if you have a will, it’s easier as most wills give permission to sell real estate during the probate process. If there is no will, then the probate court will follow the laws of intestate succession.
There are many expenses that will have to be incurred along the way such as filing fees with your county, attorneys fees, not to mention the maintenance of the home, paying the mortgage, utilities, insurance, and property taxes. These can easily add up to thousands of dollars depending on the amount of time it takes for you to sell your home in probate in Greenville. The process takes time because first, you have to notify the courts and file the will, if you have one, then you have to notify the other heirs, creditors, and anyone else with interest in the estate.
How To Sell Your House in Probate in Greenville
Probate is the legal process of proving the validity of a will and settling the estate including distributing property and settling any debts. Whether or not the house is in an estate that has a will or is intestate (no will), it will need to go through probate courts to sell your house in probate. They will need to verify the validity of the will. Below are a brief summary of the steps you will need to take to sell your house in probate.
Step 1: Bring a copy of the will and death certificate to your probate court
Step 2: Serve all of the heirs and creditors
Step 3: Wait for answers from all the parties that were served
Step 4: Have a hearing
Probate Laws in Greenville, SC
The probate laws in SC are very specific as to what needs to happen to sell a home in probate. In simple terms, if you have a will, you go to Probate Court and be named the Personal Representative or Executor. Once named the Executor or PR, the PR often has the authority to sell real estate. An attorney will be able to facilitate the closing.
If you do NOT have a will, then you are intestate. Again, you will need to go to Probate Court and notify them that you would like to open Probate. You will need to be named Executor or PR. This process is more complicated as you will need the approval to be named PR or Executor by other heirs. At this point, you can wait for probate to finish or you can petition the court for real estate to be sold. The judge will often require an affidavit of value to be done by either a realtor or an appraiser to determine that the amount you’re selling your property for is a fair price. Then an attorney is engaged to complete the sale.