I bought a Condo for my Mother, several years later I quit deed, giving her the house outright but with me as a "living trust - Deed reverts to me upon death. Latter she wanted cash through a reverse mortgage and I told her it was her house, just take me off any connection to the property. I needed to provide her a power of attorney to get the loan and take me off the trust. However it seems she didn’t take me off the trust.
When taking out the mortgage she was under the impression that none of her survivors would be responsible for any fees, or taxes or mortgage balances. When I contacted the lender after her death we informed them we didn’t want to deal with the house and also asked if we needed to pay for anything including the condo fees. They stated that they were responsible for all fees including the Condo Fee.
This past week I received a letter from the condo associations attorney with an Amended Claim of Lien for the fees, late fees and legal fees attached, threatening legal action that was not limited to the foreclosure of the property. The old lender has since resold the mortgage and the new lender stated they weren’t responsible for the condo fees beyond any lien repayments. The lien from the association would be behind their lien (In my view this indicates that it won’t be paid as the loan balance is worth more than the property). Can the association sue me too over what they don’t receive from the sale of the property?
What is my recourse?
Whatever the arrangement, it had to have been terminated for the reverse mortgage would not have been written with you in anyway attached to the property as doing so would have violated the terms of same (you weren't living there and I'm going to assume you were under the age of 62).
Therefore, although you may have been a beneficiary of the property, you had no ownership at her demise.
As beneficiary, you would be entitled to any residual after all other claims, including the reverse mortgage, have settled.
The terms of a reverse mortgage require the homeowner to pay all fees related to the property. If they were left unpaid, then the claim would be against the property owner at the time the fees were incurred or the estate thereof.
I would surmise that the letter you received is against the estate, not you personally.
Thanks for the response. It was a life estate. That said the living estate was never lifted I sent a limited Power of Attorney so she could execute the loan my understanding was It would eliminate the life estate. Instead I've found documents listing me as a borrower/mortgager not living at the property. Since then the mortgage has been transferred twice with the latest stating (via phone) that I am not a borrower and refusing to give me details as I'm not one of the listed persons that they can release information to (there was no executor), The Home Owner asscociation lawyer told me since I am on the deed they are targetting me not the estate. She also stated that they would foreclose and likely rent the property and recover their funds owed (I got the feeling that she was hinting that that would be my best solution but she isn't my lawyer) with the Reverse Mortgage lender eventually suing them to recover the property. That said would I then be target from the lender for not defending the property if they come back a state I actually am a borrower.