Inheritance Tax leaving a cloud on a title?
Hi, I'm interested in a property available for a private sale in PA, I had a full title search done by my lawyer and basically there are a handful of small municple liens (2 actually) which I would be happy to pay off and old Credit card lien that over 5yrs and has expired. However, my lawyer says there's a possibility of lingering inheritance tax since the property was transferred to a son in 2014 who then never paid the taxes. She recommends not to purchase the house because there will be a cloud over the title if I try to sell it. She claims there is no way to clear the title and settle the (possible) overdue inheritance tax without the assistance of the current owner. I doubt he'll be willing to help if I've purchased his house from a tax sale.
It makes no sense at all to me that there is no possible way to clear a title of previous owner's inheritance taxes. Anyone have experience with this?
(Actually, I'm quite confident that the parents (grantors) are still alive so no inheritane tax should be due per PA law if the Grantor stays alive more than 1 year from the date of transfer. This question is mainly for future purposes.)