Dying Intestate

[newmom1212]

my grandmother recently died but she died without a will. previously before she died,she recently took out a loan on the house. the original deed states the house is left to me and my younger siblings who are minors. will this deed still be in effect even though she took out a loan and recieved a new deed with a new mortgage company? i am also her named beneficiary on her bank accounts and life insurance policy so will i have a good chance if i had to go to court?

[banned-dot]

if there is no will you cannot be a named beneficiary in regards to anything i don't think. You will need to apply for letters of administration from the Probate Registry but see a solicitor and make sure everything is covered legally.
A Deed of Covenant or codicile should be attached to a will i think, no doubt someone with a more up to date take on probate matters can help with that.

[Ethel]

The loan will have to be repaid. If the only way to do that is to sell the house, then that is what will happen. She cannot leave to you what she does not have.

If there is enough money in the estate to pay off the loans then the house will not have to be sold.

[dzug]

You CAN be a named beneficiary on at least some bank accounts and on a life insurance if your grandmother signed the right forms before she died.

But I don't understand about the 'original deed' leaving the house to you. Does that mean that your grandmother didn't own the house? If so she shouldn't have been able to take out a loan on it. Or did she own it jointly with you? And I don't understand a 'new deed with a new mortgage company'. What does that mean?

Whatever the case the loan will have to be repaid out of your grandmother's assets, whatever they are, before you/your siblings can get your hands on any of it.

[Morty Vicar]

As dzug says, I think we need a little more info. However, it is possible that your grandmother wrote her assets in trust (very easy to do, indeed no formal declaration of trust is actually necessary) and the assets will therefore pass outside the terms of the estate and instead under the terms of the trust.

[newmom1212]

when she applied for the loan on the house, she had been issued a new mortgage agreement with a new mortgage company. when she originally bought the house, my name was on that first mortgage agreement as next of kin. but i'm not sure if that original mortgage agreement has any value because of the new one she recieved when she took out the loan.