CASE STUDY 5 : This Old House

27 Aug CASE STUDY 5 : This Old House

We will call this subject, “Curley.” During the 1950’s Curley’s parents lived in their little old family home in a sleepy German immigrant town in Texas, where Curley took care of them into their late years. Just before Curley’s parents died in the 1990’s they both told her that she was “left the house.” After their death, Curley continued to live there, and paid the taxes, maintenance, and insurance. For almost thirty years Curley had no clue she owned a little less than 50% of the house since her parents never left a will. Curley only learned of this problem when she went to sell the home and move. At that time, a Realtor broke the bad news. Curley spent five years visiting half a dozen attorneys, title companies, investors, realtors, and family friends looking for help. All eventually told her it was a lost cause. Her luck changed when a neighbor referred her to ARP. At this point an international search unraveled, starting with ARP’s domestic private investigator, and quickly turning to an international private investigative firm. That search collected data and research in the field for six months and eventually led to the missing partial owners. The next six months were spent settling title problems and settling the individual interest of each heir, some as close as the same town and some as far as South America. Curley was finally able to sell the home as her own, as she was promised by her parents many decades ago.