HELP! I've inherited some land and don't know what to do!

[Th1onein]

My father died when I was six and he had two maiden aunts who owned some land along the coastline of Texas. These aunts died without leaving a will so I and my sisters have inherited the land. A power company called me the other day asking me to sign some papers for an "easement." I am totally lost. I talked to my brother and found out that they have to pay us for an easement, but I know so little about this sort of thing. Also, it seems that my cousins, who also have an interest in the property, have not been so forthcoming in terms of letting us know that we have an interest in this property. The only way that I found out about it was when the power company called me.

Does anyone know anything about this sort of thing?

[Psephos]

1. Don't goof around, hire an attorney who specializes in this kind of thing

You're asking for trouble if you don't.

Peace.

[enough]

2. Get a lawyer, NOT one recommended by the power company (or the cousins).

An easement has value, possibly a lot of value. Or you may decide you do not want to facilitate the power company's plans

[CountAllVotes]

3. I think you need an attorney

The land probably has to go through probate being there was no will.

Look for one that does wills and also has a background in real estate law.

Best of luck to you.

CountAllVotes

[JuniperLea]

4. Sounds like you need a .... *gulp*

Real Estate Attorney! ARGH!! They are one of those dastardly necessities in cases such as these. Have you been paying toward the property taxes?

[soothsayer]

5. Find yerself a texas real estate attorney and go from there!

[smoogatz]

6. But try not to shoot him in the face.

Though you'll want to, when you get the bill.

[Drum]

7. I absolutely agree with the above posters...

You should solicit legal help, someone with some indigenous knowledge, and grab a couple of informative and advisory books for yourself on these new legal implications (and opportunities!) arising from your new land. And the 'web, of course, can provide a lot of info on the context of what goes on in these processes so you'll know what your lawyer's doing for you.

And, congratulations on being a land-owner now...something we perpetual apartment-renters marvel at, from afar.

[griffi94]

8. what county in texas

[Th1onein]

9. I think Nueces or Aransas

n/t

[griffi94]

10. do you live in texas

[davsand]

11. Get thee to a Lawyer!

Estate stuff is never easy and frequently pretty durn ugly. If you already think the cousins are trying to screw you, then my expectation is that it will be an ugly and protracted argument. Usually, in the absence of any will stating otherwise, land/property gets split out equally between all the living heirs or else it gets sold off and the cash the sale generates is then divided out.

As for the easement, my guess is that you guys are probably not gonna have a lot of choice about it in most cases, because of the eminent domain laws. If they really WANT that easement they can take you to court and force you to sell it.

If it is a power line they want to run, it might not have a terrible impact on the surface. It could also be a huge ugly thing that eats up a lot of surface area and destroys and scenic appeal the property has.

Gulf coast land--that could be worth some cash to an investor or developer. It might be a great place to build a place for you and your family. It could also be a veritable swamp.

In truth,I have seen a lot of usually functional families go into total meltdown over this kind of stuff. Good luck with it,and I am VERY serious when I tell you to lawyer up now rather than later.

Regards,


Laura

On edit: I just saw your post saying this is maybe in Nueces County. Isn't that some pretty "high rent" property down there?

[Th1onein]

17. It is the "other" end of Padre Island

It is undeveloped, as far as I know, but this is a part of Padre Island. This land is 20 acres. I don't know if that's a lot of land or a little bit of land. I'm not good at these sorts of things. I think that it is probably worth a lot of money because of where it's at.

I don't want to build on the land because I already have some land that was left to me by my mother, and I consider that my home. And, it is also coastal, and they are wanting to build casinos in the area now, so it might not be "home" type land, anyway.

You know, I have a wonderful business that makes me about a quarter of a million a year and is going to make me even more next year. And I was a welfare mother when I started out. But I don't need these properties, or the money that they are worth. And, I can't quit work because my partner is getting old and would have a rough time without me.

I only wish these things could have happened when my son was alive and we were on welfare.

[Horse with no Name]

33. Wow.

That land is worth some bucks.
You will be well advised to take heed to retain an attorney to protect your ASS-ets.

[alarimer]

39. Whatever you do, please consider leaving in undeveloped

This is the very last, virtually undeveloped barrier island in the US and as such it is very valuable environmentally. Protection from hurricanes, unique habitat and all that. Do not swallow the snake oil the developers are dishing out. We just dealt the developer scumbags a blow by defeating their attempt to steal our beach. The developers, in cahoots with the asshole city council, wanted to make a virtual private beach but the people struck back.

Consult with an attorney but please consider doing the environmentally responsible and not letting greedy-ass developers get their filthy hands on undeveloped land. Consider a conservation easement or donating to Nature Conservancy or some such.

[Kali]

41. Be very careful if your intentions really are to leave it undeveloped

TNC (and other orgs, too for that matter) is notorious for cutting better deals elsewhere and dumping your ideals by the wayside for a better bigger deal somewhere else. If you want it left undeveloped make sure that is part of the deal, if you just want to donate and it is worth a lot commercially then be aware it WILL be developed.

[alarimer]

45. Yes I guess I'd heard that about them

It sucks for a supposedly environmental organization to do that. I just hate to see Padre Island become Florida (which is what the city council and developers seem to want). Of course as soon as the vote went against them, the main developer pulled out of the deal. WAAAAHHH! Good for us. I would much rather see condos or homes than a resort hotel.

[pitohui]

44. any casinos could be years away if ever

is there regulatory approval for casinos in that area because i sure haven't heard of it

me, i wouldn't sign a DAMN thing w.out talking to an attorney and probably more than one in case the first is in bed w. local judges and real estate developers

if casinos are coming soon, you might be throwing money away if you don't step carefully

[DemBones DemBones]

47. That's a pretty good-sized piece of land, particularly on Padre Island.

As others have said, get a lawyer in Texas and don't let the cousins or the power company screw you out of your fair share. If the land were split up between you and the cousins, you might still have enough to either make a good profit on or donate to the Nature Conservancy to keep unspoiled forever. (Even if there are 19 cousins, you'd get an acre and an unspoiled acre on Padre Island is worth preserving, if that's your choice. And I'm guessing there are fewer than 19 cousins so you'll get more than an acre.)

[DURHAM D]

12. Before you hire an attorney see what you can find out on

your own. In many states land records are online - don't know about Texas. Find the county website - find contact info for Reg. of Deeds (or whatever they call it in Texas). They are generally very helpful on the phone and will guide you through the research. Get the legal description. See if you can find out who the owner(s) of record.

The failure to notify you is very suspect unless this transition just happened recently. You will eventually need to hire an attorney but the more info you have up front will help reduce your bill and help you to know when the attorney is taking you for a spin.

How many first cousins do you have? Cousins that live in the area often incorrectly think they have some sort of priority in this situation. When my great-uncle(he was one of fourteen children but he had no direct heirs)died without a will my mother received an interest along with 36 other cousins. Talk about a mess.

[Kali]

40. oops wrong place

[griffi94]

13. i sent you a private message

there's an e-mail address there. if you have questions

[RB TexLa]

14. Attorney, as most all have said. But you can also read for yourself

There is a good bit of it to go through but you don't need a law degree to understand these things.

http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/statutes.html


One thing to remember the utility company is always going to get the easement because it will be considered to be in the public interest, usually these are just right of way issues where they need to go across your land to maintain their equipment.

[NOLADEM]

15. Lawyer.

That is all.

If your co-owners have been less than forthcoming, you may need a partition.

A real estate lawyer will know what is and isn't standard for a power easement, including how much they might pay you for it.

You should also ask your lawyer to determine how long your ownership has been in place, and whether you have not been getting your share of any income the property may generate.

You should determine whether the taxes on the land are current. If they are delinquent, you could lose the property. If possible, make sure the County Assessor sends you a copy of the annual assessment from now on.

Tread gently with your cousins. Your co-owners may have been doing you a favor all these years if they are paying the property tax if the property isn't generating any income.

Good thing about undeveloped land in Texas though is that the property tax is usually VERY low.

Another thing that is worth doing once title is established is to ask a real estate broker or two in the area for a BPO (Broker's Price Opinion). Many will do it for free if they think they might get to sell the property for you. Find out what it is worth, and follow the local market. I have sold many shitty little pieces of land over the years as the city grew to encompass them, and as more desirable land is taken up or priced out.

Lastly, you may want to consider placing your interest in an LLC and/or getting a cheap umbrella insurance policy to cover you if someone gets injured on your property. You would hate to have a gift come back and bite you in the ass.

[treestar]

16. Get a lawyer before it gets worse

And it can only get worse.

[GCP]

18. Have the lawyer check out the mineral rights

There are people in Texas making a fortune because they've got natural gas under their land and they got the rights to the resources under their land when they bought. Other people didn't, and get nothing.

[DesEtoiles]

19. call a good title company, I recommend Charter Title in Houston and

tell them your aunts died intestate (without a will) and you need to (i) know the ownership of the property, and (ii) need to have the real property (public) records reflect that the property passed at the death of the last aunt.

You'll need some kind of description of the property. If the power co is asking for the easement, they have the property description so try to get it from them. It can be a metes and boundes legal decription (with degrees, minutes, distances, etc.) or a lot number, a street adress, a tax lot number...whatever you can get.

The title company will need to figure out who all the heirs were in order to determine out who owns the property now.

There will be some charge for the title compnay to do this research, but it won't be too bad. Ideally, all the "owners" should share the costs because it benefits you all to have title clarified. Ultimately, something can be recorded in the real property records to reflect who the property passed to, so that any other person searching would find it easily.

Who pays the taxes right now on the property? Are there any other costs - liability insurance? Keep in mind that as an owner you may need to share in the costs. (Make sure no one is using the property for dumping of soil, trash, etc. Then it could be contaminated and you'd want to talk to a lawyer about your potential liability.)

EASEMENT

Once you get all that figured out, power company easements are all pretty standard - on the power company's form. If the lines will be underground, most likely the easement will say that you can't build any structures on top of the easement area. Therefore - you want to know WHERE the easement will be. The power co will usually attach an exhibit to the easement that is a map or a survey - basically a picture - of where the easement will be. Just make sure that the location of the easement will not be problematic for any future uses you may have for the property. Make sure it is not what is called a "blanket" easement - so vauge you can't pinpoint the location, therefore the whole property is affected bc the easement could be anywhere. Make sure it describes 10' on either side of a center line, something like that. (Think about future erosion of the shoreline too.)

The power co will be very concerned if you throw title into question - as in, it's not clear who owns the property. If that is the case, you may be able to get the power company to do the work with the title company to produce a report that satisfies you (as described above).

As long as the easement is located and is not in an inconvenient place, they are very routine and I would say it is rare for the power company to pay you for them.

If you don't or won't give the eaement, it's possible the power comapny could try to take the easement by eminent domain. Then you lose control of the process.


Hope this helps.

[DesEtoiles]

21. better yet, if you give the title company the name of the aunts

they can seach the public records for how the aunts became the owners (by deed, by will) and that document may have the correct legal description attached.

[ThomWV]

20. Jesus Christ, This Isn't The 2nd Coming - Give Them The Easement

Take whatever they are offering, make sure they leave it like they found it, and get out there and pay the taxes on the dam thing. If you have no interest in the property call a real estate company, have them tell you what its really worth, and then put it up for sale.

You don't need to go out and hire a lawyer just because someone wants to bury a bunch of wire on a chunk of land you don't give a shit about.

[Horse with no Name]

34. It's prime property

And this IS Texas. The power company will screw him without a doubt.
He has a right and responsibility to protect his interests.

[Kali]

22. Attorney. Do it. You could make a nice little nest egg.

If you plan to ever develop or live there get the utility to install terminals or whatever they might be called, if they are applicable. For instance most rural ranches use delivered propane, but we have natural gas and have had for more than 40 years because of a line that passes near our headquarters.

If it is a small electric line or a waer line get a meter or whatever and a "tap".

Oh man I just reread your post - you have other family involved. Now I say ATTORNEY in caps!!!

[Vinca]

23. Have it appraised to see what it's worth. Consult an attorney.

Do not give up any rights until you do so. If the power company has an easement they can run giant, high tension lines through what might just be an attractive parcel to a developer.

[YvonneCa]

24. I second, third, and fourth...

..the call for a lawyer and consulting a TEXAS title company. Your land may be valuable, if its mineral rights are yours. I worked for a title company long enough to know that people have to PAY for an easement across someone else's property. If it happened to be an oil company needing that easement...they have money to pay you well. It is worth it to KNOW. A title officer can help you get started. GOOD LUCK!

[CountAllVotes]

26. good advice

and a word about lawyers ...

I have something I always tell people about lawyers. Should you retain one and you decide at some point that the lawyer you have retained is perhaps not honest or has his/her own interests in mind more than yours, seek another one ASAP. Do not fire the one you have retained until you have another one lined up to take over the case.

If you had not guessed, I've been there and done all of this before more than once. Luckily (or is it?), I have very few relatives left so it was not too much of a problem with other people, but it was a hell of a mess anyway.

The land will have to likely go through probate. When any estate goes through probate, all debts must be paid before anything can be released once probate is closed. Hopefully, the aunt that died didn't have a lot of unpaid bills or was on Medicaid or the State of Texas' health care for the poor because they subtract all costs and return it to the state.

This situation will not be quickly solved, it will likely take close to 2 years. KEEP VERY GOOD RECORDS!!

Be cautious and please heed my advise.

:dem: :kick:

[NoBushSpokenHere]

25. If you want to donate the land...

I will accept the donation :)

Would love to own 20 acres of Padre Island!

[Kali]

27. And you have a good point, if the heirs such as the OP have no real interest

in the land, but might need some kind of tax write-off, a donation might be another possible option.


Did I already mention ATTORNEY?

[Th1onein]

28. I didn't even know where the land was until I looked it up online

This is a prime piece of commercial real estate located in a resort area. Geez.

Believe me, I'm not going to donate it. I might not even sell it.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

42. Turn it into a DU Paradise.......

Members can stay for a reduced rate :)

I don't blame you for not donating it... It is or will be prime property... by the way... I believe I was on that property once. Drove as far as we could go on South Padre - was absolutely wonderful! All sand, narrow strip of land but someday, I am sure could be developed (if not now) for megabucks!

[earth mom]

29. Sounds like the land might allow you to retire!

:)

[Mountainman]

30. An easement is so the power company can put power lines in across your property. Also so they can

Repair them when needed. I have 20 acres and my property line goes to the center of the road in front of my land. The power company has an easement to put power polls down the side of the road which is on my property.

[Nay]

31. Don't sign a damn thing until you consult a real estate attorney of

your own choice. If you can, get a plat of the property (from the courthouse in the county where the property is located) to take with you to your lawyer appt.

[MadHound]

32. Contact a good lawyer, a good title company, and once you have done that

Tell the power company to take their easement and shove it. An easement is jus their way of shouldering their way onto your land, and eventually pushing you off of it. Generally the first easement is to run some ugly high power wires and poles through. This grants them permission to set these up, and maintain generally a swath twenty feet wide through your land. While you still, in name, have title to that land, for all practical purposes that land is no longer yours. You cannot do anything on it, build on it, grow on it. Then, here in a decade or so, the power company will want another easement for some other damn thing, and if you don't grant it, they will take you to court over it, and generarlly win. This can continue until finally the power company will just shove you off your land, and pay you next to nothing for it.

[B Calm]

35. How many acres are we talking about here?

[Lex]

36. Who's been paying the taxes on this property all these years?

:shrug:

[B Calm]

37. No kidding... Could be a lot of back taxes due

[dollydew]

38. Help w/inheritance

I would be perfectly glad to take the land off of your hands for a small fee. I'll also pay you on tuesday for a hamburger today. ;)

[pitohui]

43. get a lawyer

sheesh

people must have lost billions of $$$ asking advice on the internet instead of simply calling around for a local attorney

you need an attorney licensed in and familiar w. the laws of the area where the land is

[upi402]

46. sell it fast, unless it's topsoil

my .02
I sold 2 parcels of acreage this year. Done.