I inherited a house — what do I do?
Someone died and left a house. What happens next depends almost entirely on whether ownership gets formally transferred — and if it does not, a manageable situation becomes an expensive one over time.
The single most common and most damaging outcome is that nobody does anything. The property stays in the name of the person who died, sometimes for decades, and by then it is much harder to fix.
Why it matters that the record changes#
Until ownership is transferred:
- Nobody can sell it. The person on the record cannot sign, and you cannot sign for them.
- Nobody can mortgage or borrow against it.
- Insurance may not properly cover it, and a policy in a deceased person's name is often ineffective.
- Repair grants and assistance programmes are unavailable, because they require proof of ownership.
- Property taxes keep running, and unpaid taxes eventually lead to forfeiture.
- Any mortgage keeps running, and unpaid mortgages lead to foreclosure.
And it compounds with time. Each generation that passes adds more heirs. A property with two children becomes a property with seven grandchildren, then with twenty great-grandchildren scattered across the country, each holding a fractional interest. Getting everyone to agree becomes practically impossible.
This has a name — tangled title, or heirs' property — and research finds it concentrated in lower-income communities, where it is a significant route by which families lose property they did not know was at risk.
First, check how the property was held#
Some property passes automatically and needs no probate. Check this before assuming anything, because it changes everything.
Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. If the deed named two or more people as joint tenants, the survivor generally owns it outright already, and a certified death certificate recorded with the county may be all that is needed.
A transfer on death deed. Minnesota allows one of these, recorded during someone's lifetime, transferring property automatically on death. If one exists, ownership may already have passed.
A trust. Property held in a trust passes under the trust rather than through probate.
How to check: the county recorder or registrar of titles in the county where the property sits holds the deed. Ask what the current recorded deed says and whether a transfer on death deed was recorded. This is a public record and the office will help you look.
If none of those apply, the property is part of the estate and probate is normally required.
Probate, plainly#
Probate is the court process that moves ownership from someone who died to whoever inherits.
Minnesota has an informal process used for most uncontested estates. It is considerably cheaper and faster than a formal one, and a registrar can appoint a personal representative without a hearing.
What it does: appoints someone — the personal representative — with legal authority to deal with the estate, including selling or transferring the property.
Roughly what it involves: an application to the court, notice to interested people, a period during which creditors of the estate can make claims, and then distribution or transfer.
It takes months rather than weeks, largely because of the creditor claim period.
Do you need a lawyer? Not always for a simple uncontested estate, though many people use one. Legal aid organisations help people who cannot afford one, and this is exactly the kind of situation they exist for.
The things that cannot wait#
Some of this can take its time. These cannot.
Contact the mortgage servicer, if there is a mortgage. The loan does not disappear because the borrower died, and if it goes unpaid the lender can foreclose. Federal rules generally give certain inheriting relatives the right to information about the loan and, in many cases, to assume it. Tell them what has happened and ask what they need.
Contact the insurer. A policy in a deceased person's name may not cover a loss, and a vacant property has further restrictions — most policies limit or void cover after a property has been empty for a stated period. Tell them the situation and ask what keeps cover in place.
Check the property taxes. Call the county and ask whether anything is owed and whether the classification has changed. Homestead classification generally ends when the occupant dies, which increases the bill.
Secure the property. An empty house deteriorates and attracts problems. In Minnesota an unheated house in winter will have burst pipes, and the damage is often invisible until spring.
Do not let anyone remove property or move in until the position is clear, including family. It creates disputes that outlast the estate.
If there is already a foreclosure or tax problem#
Sometimes the estate is discovered because a notice arrived.
If there is a foreclosure, the redemption period and the process work the same way as they would for any owner. Our page on how long you have after a sheriff's sale covers it, and anyone with an interest in the property can redeem — which includes heirs.
If there are years of unpaid property taxes, the clock is longer than people expect. Three to five years from the tax judgment before forfeiture, and paying at any point before then stops it.
Both are more urgent when nobody has authority to act, which is the argument for opening probate quickly even where the family has not decided what to do with the property.
A housing counsellor or legal aid can look at both together, free.
When several heirs disagree#
Common, and it is the reason many of these properties never get resolved.
Somebody has to be appointed. Until a personal representative exists, nobody can act, and disagreement about who it should be stalls everything.
A court can decide if the family cannot, and a court can order a sale where heirs cannot agree.
Mediation is much cheaper than litigation, and some counties offer or can point to low-cost mediation services.
What costs the most is doing nothing. Taxes accrue, the property deteriorates, insurance lapses, and the eventual sale realises far less than it would have. Estates that sat for a decade routinely end in forfeiture, which is the worst outcome for everyone including the heirs who disagreed.
If one heir is living in the property, agree in writing who pays the taxes, insurance and maintenance. It prevents most of the disputes that follow.
If you decide to sell#
You generally cannot sell until a personal representative has been appointed, so probate comes first.
A house that has been empty for a while will need work, or will sell for less. Both are normal.
You will be contacted by buyers. Probate filings are public records, which is why. Some offers are reasonable and some are not, and the protection is the same as anywhere: find out what the property is worth from someone independent before agreeing a price, and do not sign the day it is put in front of you.
Be particularly careful of anyone offering to buy from one heir where the estate has not been settled. Selling an interest you have not yet established is not a clean transaction, and it usually ends in a dispute.
Where to get free help#
Legal aid organisations help with probate and with tangled title, at no cost to people who qualify. This is one of the situations they most want to hear about, because it is fixable early and very hard to fix late.
HUD-approved housing counsellors are free and can look at the whole picture, particularly where a mortgage or foreclosure is involved.
The county recorder or registrar of titles will tell you what the recorded deed says, free.
The county auditor or treasurer will tell you the tax position, free.
Volunteer lawyer programmes and law school clinics in the Twin Cities and elsewhere take probate matters.
What it costs to wait#
The argument for acting quickly is easier to see as numbers than as advice.
A house left in a deceased owner's name for one year, with taxes paid and the property maintained, costs an informal probate and some paperwork. It is an administrative task.
The same house left for ten years:
| What accumulates | Effect |
|---|---|
| Unpaid property taxes plus penalties and interest | Can reach forfeiture |
| Deferred maintenance on an empty property | Roof, heating, water damage |
| Lapsed or ineffective insurance | A loss is uninsured |
| Additional heirs as people die | More signatures required |
| Fractional interests across states | Some heirs unlocatable |
| A more complex probate | Formal rather than informal |
And in Minnesota specifically, an unheated empty house through winter will have burst pipes. That damage is often invisible until the water is turned on, and it can exceed what the house is worth in a weak market.
The two costs that matter most are the ones nobody notices: the taxes quietly running toward forfeiture, and the heirs quietly multiplying.
A property that forfeits for unpaid tax after ten years produces nothing for the family, and the surplus above the tax debt — which since 2023 belongs to the former owner — frequently goes unclaimed because nobody knows to ask.
If the house has been in a dead person's name for years#
Not a hypothetical. This is common, and it is fixable, though it takes more work.
Start with the county records. Find out what the recorded deed says, what taxes are owed, and whether any forfeiture process has begun. All free, all answerable by phone.
Work out who the heirs are. Under Minnesota's intestacy rules if there was no will, or under the will if there was one. This gets harder with each generation and it is the part where legal help matters most.
Ask legal aid directly about tangled title. Several organisations run programmes specifically for this, because it is a recognised problem rather than an unusual one, and they would rather help before the tax clock runs out.
Do not let anyone buy an interest from one heir. Someone may offer, and it seems like a way to get something rather than nothing. It usually produces a lawsuit, and it takes an asset from the other heirs who did not agree to sell.
A court can resolve it where heirs cannot be found or cannot agree, including ordering a sale and distributing proceeds. That is a real route and it is better than forfeiture.
Preventing this for your own family#
Worth saying, because most people reading this will not want their own children in the same position.
A transfer on death deed is recorded during your lifetime, costs very little, and transfers the property automatically on death without probate. Minnesota allows them. It is the single cheapest thing available.
Joint tenancy with right of survivorship achieves something similar where the property is co-owned, though it has other consequences and is worth advice.
A will does not avoid probate, but it makes probate straightforward and uncontested, which is most of the cost and delay.
A trust avoids probate and costs more to set up.
Whichever route, the important part is that something is recorded. The families who end up in this situation are almost never the ones who made a bad choice between these options. They are the ones where nothing was done at all.
What to do this week#
- Check the recorded deed at the county — joint tenancy, transfer on death deed, or in the deceased person's name alone.
- Contact the mortgage servicer, if there is a mortgage.
- Contact the insurer and tell them what has happened.
- Ask the county what property taxes are owed and what the classification is now.
- Secure the property, including heat in winter.
- Call legal aid about opening probate.
- Do not sign anything, and do not let anyone take a fee up front.
A house left in a dead person's name is a problem that grows. Opening probate within months is ordinary and manageable. Opening it after twenty years, with nineteen heirs and four years of unpaid tax, is a different task entirely — and the difference is only ever the time that passed.