Susanville, CA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Suggest you obtain the assistance of a probate lawyer to do a summary probate small estate affidavit to get the title into your name to sell the mobile home.

You can add anyone to your deed by executing and recording a new deed from yourself to yourself and the person as joint tenants, which has the legal element of right of survivorship, meaning that if you die before her, then she survives to your interest in the property, and the same is true in reverse, if she dies before you do, then you survive to her interest in the property. I do not understand as to why such a document would cost$1500. As to the tax matter, you may want to consult a CPA, as the transfer from you to her as to a one half interest in the property is the making of a gift; under the current federal tax law, and you fall within the federal gift tax exemption. But check with a tax account anyway.for your own comfort.

Your mother's death alone would not cause your father's life insurance to lapse. Failure to pay a premium could cause the policy to lapse. Your mother's death resulted in you becoming the beneficiary, because you were designated as the contingent beneficiary. It is not clear why (or even whether) the policy lapsed. If the policy did not lapse, then you are still the beneficiary. Furthermore, if your father's letter attempted to designate you as the beneficiary, then that is not a change at all, because you were already the beneficiary. If your father's letter attempted to designate your brother as the beneficiary, then the validity of the letter as a change of beneficiary would depend on what the policy itself says regarding the appropriate ways in which a beneficiary may be designated.