After one’s death, surviving family members or other appointed parties have the obligation of settling final affairs. Most Texas residents want to ensure that they leave instructions behind that will help throughout the probate process, but certain details may be difficult to understand. For instance, some parties may have concerns about what will happen to the house if a balance still exists on the mortgage loan.
If a remaining mortgage exists on a person’s home after his or her passing, it will be addressed during probate in one of various ways. Heirs may choose to keep the house and the mortgage loan by taking over the loan themselves. In some cases, they may be able to refinance the loan in efforts to obtain better interest rates and other details, but that is not always a viable option.
In another scenario, the remaining estate may have enough funds to pay off the remaining mortgage balance, and the heirs obtain the house without loan obligations. Of course, some heirs may not be able to afford a home, or they may not want to keep it. In this case, they could sell the property. The outcome will depend on the specific details of an estate and the heirs themselves.
Because there are multiple ways that a house could be handled during probate, some Texas residents may want to specifically address this issue in their estate plans. The executor of the estate will then follow those instructions. If no instructions for this particular asset exists, executors may have a more difficult time addressing this part of settling the estate, but fortunately, they can obtain assistance from legal professionals for useful insight.