Sale of home - owners deceased

[Tim Sharkey]

Need advice from a transaction pro:

Here’s the scenario:

I sign a listing contract with a surviving owner in a two owner (non-married) life partner domestic arrangement. One owner has deceaased.  

I find a buyer and represent that buyer in a dual agency situation (allowed in PA) and house goes under contract. Earnest money in escrow.

Now the Surviving owner dies during the transaction.

What’s do I do next? Do i need listing contracts with both estates or only the owner who lived longer?

Now what do I do? Does my buyer still have a deal. 

[Karl McGarvey]

That property now goes to the heirs of the living relatives, and probably through the probate process. I anticipate your contract is probably now voided.

[Ash Hegde]

This may vary by state. I believe here in Florida the contract actually remains valid and the estate representative handles the closing (albeit with possible delays depending on probate). 

[Tom Carroll]

I'm not sure if PA is an escrow sate or an attorney state but you should contact a real estate attorney. It will depend on the terms of your listing agreement that was signed and what the verbiage is. 

[Tom Gimer]

Whether your listing agreement is valid depends upon how the property is titled. Pull the current deed. If the two owners held title as (i) tenants by the entirety or (ii) joint tenants with the right of survivorship, you have 100% of the property accounted for. If not, you have a problem as your listing agreement would only be for 50% of the land (or some other percentage if stated in the deed).

If you can get past that hurdle, whether your contract is enforceable at this juncture would depend upon whether it is binding on seller's heirs, personal representatives, successors, etc. The answer to that may be "yes" even if the agreement doesn't contain that specific language, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. As a realtor I assume you're using a standard form and this will be easy to determine. 

Get your broker involved.

[Bruce Lynn]

Check with your title company on who has to sign.  My guess is there is now no contract.  Dead people can't sign transfer/deed/HUD1/etc.

May have to go thru escrow.  Maybe affidavits of heirship will work.  I think there are no easy answers without way more info.....did they have wills, did they have kids, did they buy the house together, who's names are on the deed, is the life partner arrangement documented--some kind of signed agreement?  Is that agreement legal in PA?