A house was offered for sale at half of fair market value. The man selling had poa of elderly mother-in-law. Is this legal?

The Dalles, OR Viewed 64 times. Posted 3 months ago in Real Estate

We went to the title co. to make sure the son-in law had poa. He signed the ernest money agreement. We paid 600.00 for appraisal. We have not heard the results but the lenders are now saying they have to have a compentency hearing for the elderly woman. We had never met this man before. We have not ties anf there is no fraud involved. We thought we were just taking advantage of a good deal in tough times. Is the son-in-law allowed to sell us this property. fyi The house is from 1920's and needs tlc.

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Answers (1)

Karl D. Warden

This attorney is licensed in Georgia and 2 other states. Posted 3 months ago.

It sounds like some of it depends upon the power of attorney the son-in-law has. If his power of attorney becomes effective only upon his mother-in-law becoming incompetent, there will probably have to be competency testing. Even if she is proven incompetent, the low selling price is a trigger to scrutinize what this person's motives are for selling at that price. He may be wanting quick cash for himself. Remember, you are only a good faith purchaser (i.e. generally protected from losing the house to the mother-in-law) if you have no notice that there might be something wrong.