My niece and nephew need their milion dollar Jamaican house left by their mom

QUESTION: Dear Legal Wiz,

I need some advise here. My sister died here in America and left a house and the house is in her young son and daughters name. My sister’s ex-husband is living in Jamaica and he rent the house out, but he is not living in it. The kids are both American born, and are both now over 21. They do not have the title but I know that the mother had the title and some lawyer in Jamaica has a copy of the title. How can these kids get this million dollars house they their mom died and left in their name. I heard that people has the authority to get fake real estates and fake lawyers to take away people house in Jamaica. I don’t know if this is just a fable. Will you please give me some guidance on this please?

Thank you.

Ms Gloria

RESPONSE: Dear Ms Gloria,

The direction you will take depends largely on the information on the title, and on other information such as whether a will existed or not. Other steps such as checking on the actions of the exhusband though significant can be done after the title is scrutinised. The first step suggested is to acquire a copy of the title to know what is on the title. You do not need an attorney to do this initial step, but it is best to have someone in Jamaica physically do this for you at the National Land Agency (Hanover Street office). The information you will need to retrieve a copy of the title include possible names on title, address of property and tax valuation number.

On obtaining that information, you can then resubmit your query for guidance in contacting an attorney for any of the follow up stages as may become necessary.

Legal Wiz