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.