Reedley, CA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

So long as you do not do anything to obligate yourself for your mother's debts, you will not be responsible except to the extent that she gives or leaves you anything.

The youngest child might get real estate after their parent's death. It depends on whether the parent had a valid will, which could leave real estate to the youngest child (or the will could give the real estate to somebody else, preventing the youngest from receiving it). If there is no will, the parent's assets go to the children equally (if there is no surviving spouse), so each of the children would get a percentage of whatever real estate is left after the parent's debts are paid.

This is a very knotty problem. Were you and your brother named in her will to take the property or, if she had no will, would you and your brother be the only heirs at law? If so, and there is no other property that would need to be transferred through probate, then your "quick and dirty" solution may work. However, you will then have a deed in the chain of title that shows on its face that it was executed by your mother, but not delivered to the county clerk for recording by her. Potentially, that raises questions about the validity of the transfer. So, my first response would be to review all your mother's affairs; if a probate is going to be necessary, and the result of the probate will be that you and your brother take, then this transfer of property would be better done through the probate. BTW, you would not file a deed stating your mother is deceased, you would just record her death certificate in the county records.