Could Someone Steal a Home From Your Estate?

A Family Home “Sold” Without the Heir’s Knowledge

According to the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, two men pleaded guilty in 2023 to participating in a scheme to take ownership of a home after its owner died.

The homeowner died in 2019, leaving her only biological son as her sole heir. In 2021, the son received an email confirming an address change with his mother’s mortgage company—an address change he had never requested.

When he contacted the mortgage company, he learned that the loan had been paid off. He then visited the property and discovered workers performing unauthorized renovations and throwing away his personal belongings, including childhood photo albums.

The investigation uncovered an elaborate fraud. One of the defendants had impersonated the homeowner’s son while communicating with the mortgage company. The men reportedly used a forged death certificate and false affidavits of heirship to claim that one of them was the deceased owner’s sole heir. A fraudulent deed was then recorded, indicating that the property had been sold for $530,000 to a corporation controlled by one of the defendants.

The court ultimately vacated the fraudulent deed and returned the property to the rightful heir. Unfortunately, not every family discovers suspicious activity before a property is sold, mortgaged, renovated, or stripped of its contents.

Why Property Can Be Vulnerable After a Death

The period following a property owner’s death can create opportunities for fraud, particularly when no one immediately assumes responsibility for the home.

The property may be vacant. Mail may accumulate or be redirected. Mortgage, insurance, and property tax correspondence may go unanswered. Family members may assume that someone else is monitoring the property, while the person legally authorized to act may not yet understand the extent of that responsibility.

Information about a deceased owner may also be available through obituaries, social media, public records, and improperly accessed personal documents. A fraudster may use that information to impersonate an owner, beneficiary, or fiduciary and create documents that appear legitimate.

A forged deed does not necessarily give a fraudster lawful ownership of a property. However, untangling a fraudulent transfer may require an investigation, litigation, and substantial time and expense. Complications can multiply if the property is transferred again, used to secure a loan, or purchased by another party.

Estate Planning Is an Important First Step—but Not the Only One

A properly prepared and funded estate plan can make it much clearer who has the authority to manage real estate following an owner’s incapacity or death.

For example, when property is properly titled in a revocable trust, a named successor trustee may be able to step in and begin managing it without waiting for a probate court to appoint a personal representative. That trustee can secure the property, communicate with lenders and insurers, pay necessary expenses, and determine what should happen to the home under the terms of the trust.

However, even a well-designed estate plan cannot make deliberate fraud impossible. Protecting real estate also requires accurate records, attentive fiduciaries, and timely administration.

Families should know where the estate planning documents and property records are located, who will be responsible for acting, and which professionals should be contacted when an owner dies or can no longer manage personal affairs.

Steps That May Help Protect Family Property

Property owners and families can take several practical steps to make suspicious activity easier to identify and address.

Make Sure the Property and Estate Plan Work Together

Creating a trust does not automatically place real estate into it. The title to the property should be reviewed to determine whether it is properly coordinated with the owner’s estate plan.

Changes in ownership, refinancing, the purchase of additional property, marriage, divorce, or the death of a co-owner may all create reasons to review both the title and the broader plan.

Choose Fiduciaries Carefully

A successor trustee or personal representative may be responsible for securing, maintaining, and eventually transferring or selling valuable real estate.

The person selected should be trustworthy, organized, and prepared to respond promptly. Owners should also consider naming appropriate backups in case the first person chosen cannot or will not serve.

Act Promptly After a Death or Incapacity

Once someone has authority to act, the property should not be left unattended while the family works through other decisions.

Depending on the circumstances, immediate responsibilities may include:

• Securing the home and safeguarding its contents
• Collecting and monitoring the owner’s mail
• Notifying the mortgage lender and insurance company
• Confirming that property taxes and necessary expenses remain current
• Reviewing the title and other recorded documents
• Watching for unauthorized occupants, renovations, listings, or sale activity

Families should seek legal advice before making significant decisions or taking action involving a property that may belong to a trust or estate.

Pay Attention to Unexpected Correspondence

In the Queens case, an address change confirmation helped alert the rightful heir that something was wrong.

Unexpected notices should not be ignored. Potential warning signs may include:

• A property tax bill that suddenly stops arriving
• Confirmation of an address change no one requested
• Mortgage documents for an unfamiliar loan
• Notices suggesting that a property was transferred, sold, or refinanced
• Documents bearing a signature the owner did not provide
• Unexplained construction, occupancy, or activity at a vacant property

Contact the relevant institution directly using verified contact information rather than responding through a link, telephone number, or email address included in a suspicious message.

Monitor Public Property Records

The Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department recommends checking its online Grantor/Grantee Index for recorded transactions that may affect ownership of a property.

If an unfamiliar deed, lien, loan document, or other transaction appears, the property owner or authorized fiduciary should act quickly. Depending on the situation, that may include contacting an attorney, law enforcement, the county recorder, the title company, or the lender involved.

Protecting More Than the Property

A family home may represent a substantial financial asset, but its significance often extends far beyond its market value. It may contain decades of memories, personal belongings, and an important part of the legacy someone intended to leave behind.

The New York case ended with the home being returned to its rightful heir. Even so, the family had already experienced the shock of finding strangers renovating the property and discarding irreplaceable possessions.

Thoughtful estate planning can clarify who has the authority to protect a property and what should ultimately happen to it. Timely trust or estate administration can then help turn that plan into action, reducing the amount of time in which a valuable family asset is left without clear and active oversight.

Property owners should periodically review how their real estate is titled, confirm that their estate plans remain current, and make sure the people selected to act understand their responsibilities. When an owner dies or becomes incapacitated, families should not delay in obtaining guidance and taking appropriate steps to secure and monitor the property.