Family member will not give us deed to property we bought from her.?

Question

My husband and I have a contract with a family member that states simply this : we agree to pay $12,000 for the house and property and we were responsible for paying the property taxes.Last year she decided she didn't want to "sell" us this house and property anymore. We have talked with an attorney he wants $2,900 to get things going as far as taking her to court to get the deed but at this time I don't have it. So is there any other way we can go about getting the deed without going to court? We have completely paid her off.! We don't owe her any more money, so what do we do? She came to us with 2 other "contracts" she wanted us to sign and we told her NO we were not signing anything else.We do have the original contract and all the receipts for the house and what we have paid for property taxes. We kept everything!

Answer 1

I think you are going to have to file suit to compel her to sign over the deed.  If you have occupancy of the home, you could go to the Register of Deeds and record the contract.  this would notify anyone that would loan her money against the home that she may not have clear title any longer.  It would also be a good place to post notice to anyone she might try to sell the house to that might not need bank financing.

If she tries to have you evicted from the house, you have the contract and receipts to demonstrate your claim of ownership.

But to get it all cleared up, I think you'll need to file suit to compel the deed to be signed over.

Answer 2

Contact the County Office of Deeds.  Better to go in person and register the sale of property to you.  They will guide you in the paperwork