mortgage company said that she would have to refinance.

Is there any way to see if a mortgage (HELOC actually) is being paid on a property you jointly own but the note is in the original owners name (deceased parent)?

Basically my sister living there is supposed to be making at least minimum payments as part of living there, but I'd like to verify that. The plan (which I have doubts will actually happen sans court) is that she could live there awhile as long as insurance, taxes and HELOC payments were made. I can see the taxes online but nothing on HELOC.

the line of credit. Does the lender recognize your sister as someone who could draw on the line. If so, that could be a problem.

Would the lender give you notice if there is a default on the loan?

And it was only my father on the note so I don't think anyone could have made a draw.

I have no idea if the lender would give me notice. I would hope so that they'd pull up the county property record and at least find my name on it, but it isn't like my mailing address or phone are on there, however that is easily findable.

I guess I'll just trust my sister if I have to vs. rock the boat.

Also I knwo it is illegal to run a credit check on someone without their consent, but could I do so on my father (deceased) to see if the account still reports under him?

and procedures (at least national banks are). The successor-in-interest will have to offer documentary evidence that they are indeed the successor-in-interest to the estate in order to be authorized to get information on the loan.

Provided that you have a death certificate and you are the executor of the estate they may provide you with the information.

Estate attorney advised that the bank would not do anything if we didn't say anything as long as the payment terms on the HELOC were met. Everything has been copacetic for the last 6 years under this assumption.

There is plenty of equity in the house, but wanted to let sister live there for period of time (son in school) before selling it off and splitting proceeds. So that is what we did.

I figure at some point the bank would contact me (name is on deed they can pull online) if they were not getting paid. But the balance at death (6 years ago) was <10K, so maybe they wouldn't put any time into it.

It hasn't hit my credit or anything (I don't think it could I am not the borrower) so I am not hurt, but time to sell will be in about 18 months (and pay off HELOC obviously) and trying to get some idea how it will go down.

Of mortgage, it is against federal law to accelerate a loan due to death of mortgage under Garn-St. Germain that results in lineal descendant to become owner of property.

They obviously can enforce payment but cant accelerate the loan.

to pay off the HELOC or has everything else already been liquidated?

That may be the easiest solution and then have the payments that your sister is making replenish the funds that were used to pay off the HELOC, however, I am a lender not an estate attorney so I am not even sure that is permissible.

It is tough to give a blanket answer because every bank will be different in how they handle the situation. Your bigger banks would likely handle the situation much differently than a community bank would.

As an aside - Has your sister been clear direction on the standard in which she has to maintain the house? I have seen instances similar to this where a house gets trashed and severely diminished the value due to deferred maintenance etc. I am not saying this is your sister but, if you haven't already it may be a good idea to set those expectations.

And I really appreciate the advice and I know none of it is professional advice.

Everything else has been liquidated. House was deeded over to me and my sister JTRS* It was my father's estate, died in 2011. Sister and her then 10 year old son were living with him for several years before then. She has job etc. but some poor decisions and bad with money, so idea was with my name on house she could not go borrow against it and nephew would have stable home.

The verbal agreement was she maintains the house (it was in "fair" condition in 2011) pays the taxes, insurance, and HELOC** and the two of them could stay there until he finishes HS. She agrees and still acknowledges this deal as he is now a HS junior. I come by the house 1 or 2 times a year for visit, we still have decent if shallow relationship. Family in area would let me know if things got too sideways, so no maintenance issues (well unless roof or furnace go, but that's a different issue.)

I could pay off the HELOC with personal funds right now, but then that would all be out of my share. She does not have funds to pay half of it off. I do NOT want to be her creditor to replenish funds or anything else (she won't pay regularly - same reason I won't let her just make me payments for her half - she has bad credit.)

So I think sitting on it is best plan, but I'd just like to know if she's paid at least reasonably on it (i.e. penalties and interest not making balance 20K from a 10K start.)

In the end, the house is worth 100-110K, I'd be happy to get 30K for my half, but she is not credit worthy even for a small mortgage.

*I recognize that if I die sister gets it all not my wife and kids but we desired that setup as they have other arrangements made.

**Any principal paid down I would give her "credit" for in the split of the sale proceeds.

That is sort of surprising. While it is jurisdiction specific, most states have laws that provide that heirs of property take said property as tenants in common.

I mean I don't have it is front of me, but I am pretty sure attorney gave us options and we selected that specifically, because she verified I wanted sister to get my share if I died. It was in state of Ohio.

Unless the decree requires it, she probably doesn't have to pay off the loan early to accommodate him.

How many years are left on the mortgage? With a $20,000 balance, it would seem that their wouldn't be lot of time left on it. If there is less than 5 years left on the term, most of the payments are principal and she might not want to pay it off.

She could agree to give the husband quarterly statements from the lender showing the mortgage is current.

If she refinances and has to pay a higher interest rate, she could ask for the Husband to pay something to make up for the higher interest.

My divorce agreement dictated what we were both required to do. (I had to sign quitclaim, she had to refinance)

But that did not happen, unfortunately.

If the end goal is to simply get the husband off the solution is to pay off the loan via a refinance of some sort (or cash if that is an option).

Because the loan amount is so low it makes it cost ineffective to just do that in most cases though. Were you friend my customer we would have a conversation about her overall financial picture and what the best monetary solution for her specific issue was. The solution may range from doing nothing to a few different loan options and scenarios. I have included my email if she wants to shoot me a message and I will do my best to advise.

As you know, anybody who is on the mortgage has that liability. Apparently the ex wants to buy another house, and with his name still on the other mortgage, it is affecting his credit. So, my friend is looking at all options. She might end up not doing anything. He is not on the deed. I will email you with other questions. Thanks.

to get the ex off the mortgage. With a refi, as it is a secured loan, the rates will likely be a lot better. There also may be an assumption-like process (technically you can't really assume a loan you are already on) where the spouse staying in the home goes through underwriting again and takes over the loan solely in his/her name. That would depend on what the investor/servicer allows.

Warning: doing just a quitclaim deed to the spouse staying in the home only affects title, not the mortgage liability. Don't give up title rights if you're still going to be liable on the note. It gets to be a complete mess. That's an issue I deal with a lot at work, and the people I have to explain it to are usually not happy.