Should you buy a property from someone on their way to Prison ?

Question

I am curious because I have never been down this road before . I spoke with a friend who had mentioned that someone we knew but had not seen in several years was busted for drug dealing apparently he was over the limit that turns it into a felony ? He could not post bail and is in County detention pending the Trial .

My friend and I got to talking about Possibly Visiting the detention center and making him an offer on the house . While discussing this oppurtunity we decided to take his sister who is a Para - Legal to the county courthouse . She was able to determine the House had NO mortgage , NO liens etc; and taxes are current .

My biggest question is while in detention is he ABLE to conduct any transactions before the trial ?

Has anyone run into a senerio like this before ?

He has asked for a Public Defender Do we need to go through him ?

Comps show 3 BR 2 Bath 2 car garage as & 235 K

How would you get access to the house ?

If we do get access I am thinking that we should get a Police drug dog to go through the house with us . Does that make sense ?

Also if the deal comes to fruition WHAT happens to the personal Possessions ?

Kyle J. · Answer

Bob,

A person accused of a crime doesn't lose their right to conduct business transactions such as you described, so you can go visit him at the jail if you want to. You don't need to go through his public defender and it wouldn't be appropriate to anyway. That person is representing him in a criminal trial, not the sale of real estate.

As for getting access to the house, you should ask the owner how to do that. If he doesn't want you to have access, you don't get it. If he does, he'll tell you how to do it. If he has a family member that he trusts, he can have that person go with you to let you in while you view the house. It'd be a good idea any way for there to be a 3rd party present so you don't get accused of doing something while in his house. It's sounds like you already know his sister. If they have a good relationship, maybe she can help facilitate you viewing the property if he is okay with that.

But keep in mind that even if he does consent to you accessing/viewing his house, that does not give you the right to bring "a police drug dog to go through the house" with you. So don't do that.

As for what happens to his personal possessions, I would let him deal with that. He can have friends or family members move his stuff, or they can assist him in hiring a moving company. But I wouldn't touch his stuff if I were you because you don't want to be liable if anything comes up missing or damaged.

JD Martin · Answer

He's going to have to declare his assets, you are not entitled to a free defense if you can pay for it yourself. I doubt the court is going to let him use legal services with a $250k asset sitting out there unencumbered. The public defender is not going to figure out how he can sell you his house.

Aside from that, I would beware that it may be possible for the authorities to lay some kind of claim to the house if it was part of the enterprise. If it were me, I would do nothing until the legal issues were resolved.

Chris Mason · Answer

There will probably be a search warrant executed and the house will be tossed in any case, along with any evidence (eg, drugs or drug making equipment) collected.

Should you buy a property from someone on their way to Prison ?

Should you buy a property from someone on their way to Prison ?

Most Popular Reply

3 Replies