By: KeyCrew Media
A Little Rock broker and attorney explains who to call first, how long probate takes, and what happens when siblings cannot agree on the property.
Inheriting a house usually arrives at a hard time. There is grief, paperwork, and often a family trying to make a decision from several different states. Many heirs start by searching online for forms they can fill out themselves. Jerry Larkowski says that is where a lot of expensive problems begin.
Larkowski is Managing Broker at ESQ. Realty Group, LLC in Little Rock, Arkansas, and has been a licensed attorney since 1991. He says the first step with an inherited house is the same as with any real estate transaction: talk to a professional before you sign anything.
Make the Right Call First
“Don’t ever, ever, ever buy or sell real estate without having talked to either a realtor, an attorney, or a title company,” Larkowski says. For an inherited property, he puts them in a specific order: lawyer first, title company second, realtor third.
The order matters because each plays a different role. Title companies explain requirements and work to issue a title policy that assures a buyer they are getting real ownership, but they cannot give legal advice. An attorney can. A realtor can help steer heirs toward the right people if they have not called the other two.
Larkowski has seen what happens when nobody checks. In one case he handled, a man bought the house next door from someone who did not actually own it. He put about $130,000 in labor and materials into the property before the real owner showed up. After months of work, Larkowski recovered only about $10,000 for him. Had he ordered title work before paying for the property and remodeling it, the title company would have found the party with a superior interest. He either would not have bought the house or would have bought it from the right person.
The same principle applies to an inherited house. A buyer cannot buy what a seller does not legally own, and a title company will typically need to see that ownership has properly passed to the heirs before a sale can close.
Probate: The Short Route and the Long Route
How quickly heirs can act depends on how the owner set things up. If the property was arranged to pass automatically, such as through an Arkansas beneficiary deed or joint ownership with a right of survivorship, the heirs may be able to skip probate.
Otherwise, the house likely goes through probate. Arkansas offers a simplified small estate process for estates valued at $100,000 or less, after certain exclusions. It can include real property, but the heirs must publish a notice in a newspaper, and creditors then have three months to file claims. Larkowski calls this the “90-day probate,” though he says it realistically takes three and a half to four months.
Full probate takes longer. Larkowski says to expect at least seven to nine months. “If you can avoid probate, it’s great,” he says.
When Siblings Cannot Agree
Disagreements are common when several siblings inherit one house. One wants to sell, another wants to rent it out, and a third wants to move in.
Arkansas adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act in 2015. When the law applies, it gives co-owners a court process to buy out the others at an appraised value. Larkowski says he has never seen it used and expects it comes up more often with rural acreage and farmland than with houses in town.
For a typical city house, the more likely path is a partition lawsuit. Since a single house on a single lot cannot be split into pieces, a court can order it sold to the highest bidder. “Unless one of those heirs has a lot of money that can outbid everybody else,” Larkowski says, that outcome rarely helps anyone.
Why Settling Usually Beats Suing
Larkowski’s advice is to find a way out before it reaches a courtroom. That can mean bringing in a mediator, having one sibling buy out the others, or agreeing to sell and split the proceeds.
“Whatever cash you’re going to get out of that property, if you decide you want to hire a lawyer and fight it all the way through, you’re just going to be draining what you’re getting out of that more and more,” he says. “It’s better to just try to get it settled right.”
Heirs weighing their options can find more guidance on Arkansas property decisions on the ESQ. Realty Group blog.
A house is often the largest thing a parent leaves behind. How the family handles the first few weeks decides how much of it they actually keep.
About ESQ. Realty Group, LLC
ESQ. Realty Group, LLC is a full-service real estate brokerage serving the Little Rock and Hot Springs markets in Central Arkansas.
Managing Broker Jerry Larkowski is a dual-licensed real estate broker and attorney with a background in trial law. Learn more at esqbrokers.com.
Disclaimer: This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
