- Jurisdiction
- Arizona
My husband and I are purchasing a modest home out of state from the Executor of the estate. Her mother had passed away about 9 months ago leaving her as sole Executor. She has two sisters. She accepted our offer and we signed the contract on August 11th and were supposed to close on September 14th. On September 4th we were advised by the real estate agent that one of the sisters (third sister), who evidently did not respond to earlier attempts by the Executor Sister regarding the home, has questioned the sale of the home. The second sister has been in communication and in agreement with the sale. The third sisters claim is that the home is being sold under market or to a friend, neither of which is the case. She had a friend who is an attorney from California write a letter. This forced the Executor Sister to hire an attorney in Arizona (she also lives in California) who responded to the letter requesting documentation to support the third sisters claim. There was no response. The Arizona attorney then sent a demand letter on September 15th, I understand the demand letter is asking for documentation to support her claim, or drop the claim or basically notifying her that a lawsuit will be filed. With this Demand letter, the attorney included the area comps, our offer; which was the third and highest, and a copy of the will/trust. Of note, evidently the mother specifically noted in the will that if the named sister caused any issues she was to inherit $1. This all sounded promising, and we expected a quick response, however, to date, there has been nothing. Here are my questions:
1.How is it this third sister can contest a will when the Executor has done everything legally and supposedly has complete authority to sell the property with or without the sisters opinion?
2.How long does the sister have to respond?
3.How long can this realistically drag on?
4.Can we ask and/or are we entitled to copies of the legal letters to show proof this is really happening?
5. Is it worth pursuing - do we need an attorney? We do want the property.
We've already had the inspection done , submitted our earnest money deposit, had to drop the interest lock, and sign an addendum to extend our contract.
I'm at a loss!
Thank you!
1.How is it this third sister can contest a will when the Executor has done everything legally and supposedly has complete authority to sell the property with or without the sisters opinion?
2.How long does the sister have to respond?
3.How long can this realistically drag on?
4.Can we ask and/or are we entitled to copies of the legal letters to show proof this is really happening?
5. Is it worth pursuing - do we need an attorney? We do want the property.
We've already had the inspection done , submitted our earnest money deposit, had to drop the interest lock, and sign an addendum to extend our contract.
I'm at a loss!
Thank you!
