What happens to mortgage on parents' home when they pass away?

What happens to mortgage on parents' home when they pass away?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Lauren, you're on news 96:5 go ahead.

Lauren: I'm calling to ask I'm halfway through a 30-year mortgage. I've had some health issues, what I'm calling to ask is if something were to happen to me, is there any way that I could get my property into the hands of someone in my family because it would still be an open mortgage?

Attorney Tom Olsen: People pass away all the time with mortgages on their property and from my experience, this is not going to be a problem. The law technically says that if your home is inherited by an heir like a child and that child lives in your home, then the lender would be required by law to let your child assume that mortgage. My experience is that whether it's an heir or friend, whether they're not living there or are living there, the bottom line is when you pass away, if they keep on making payments, the mortgage company doesn't pay up, will care about that and of course they'll make payments until they pay off the mortgage or they sell it and pay off the mortgage.

Lauren, I would not be concerned about this situation for you.

Lauren: You don't have to have anything in writing after I pass would move in and keep paying the mortgage payments?

Attorney Tom Olsen: I don't know what you mean in writing but can they just move in? We haven't talked about this issue about probate, there's not going to be anything automatic about transferring this home when you pass away. It is going through probate.

Lauren: I'd have to leave it to them of course.

Attorney Tom Olsen: If you want to call me next week we'll talk about avoiding probate. The way we avoid probate on your home or other real estate in Florida is through a ladybird deed. We are all about avoiding probate folks whether it's a piece of property or a bank account you can call Chrissy. We have some great booklets on easy ways to avoid probate. The easiest way to get those is the call or text Chrissy at 4-0-7-8-0-8-3-9-8.