Mom Wanted Us To Have This House!
A few years ago a older gentleman asked me to list his home for sale. I made the appointment & set a date to meet him. Upon arrival he informed that his wife was deceased & had left a handwritten will leaving him the home & everything else she owned. This is the table she sat at and wrote her last will & testament! I asked him if it was probated & he said , no it had not been probated. He also told me he had two stepdaughters 
that knew about this and they were okay with the sale of the home!
I proceeded to list the home and took the handwritten will to the title company. They said an Heirship Affidavit would be all he needed to do to sell the home! I took the Heirship Affidavit to the seller and he sent it to the stepdaughters immediately. Meanwhile house gets an offer, seller accepts and it goes to escrow.
Everything was running so smoothly....until the stepdaughters said " Mom wanted us to have this house!" and refused to sign the Heirship Affidavit!! Screech....go the brakes. Now the seller has to probate the Handwritten Will which took about 60 days. Luckily for him the buyer in escrow was willing to wait.
It was difficult for him to accept the fact that his stepdaughters did this but thankfully the seller was awarded the home & everything else owned by him and his wife in the marriage, by the probate judge. The stepdaughters recieved nothing. We closed the home and I took the seller to the airport, he moved far away to Denver! Can you blame him?
Moral of the story: If there is a Will of any kind, get the Heirship Affidavit completed BEFORE you list any home on the market! This situation turned out ok, but most buyers don't want to wait 60 days or more for a home to go throught a probate court!
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