I’m Raul Bolufe. My company buys inherited houses and heir shares across Texas, and a big part of what we actually do all day is clear the liens nobody told the family about. This one was a child support lien. I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. It is what happened on a house in Willis.
One heir, one house, one old problem
This was about as simple as an inheritance gets. A mother passed away in Willis, up in Montgomery County. No will that anyone could find. No probate. One son. The house was his.
He wanted to sell. He could not.
The problem was not the house and it was not the family. It was him. Years earlier he had fallen behind on child support. In Texas, when that happens, the balance does not just sit in a file somewhere. It becomes a child support lien that attaches to real estate you own. And the day his mother’s house became his, that old balance attached itself to the house.
So the moment he tried to sell, the title company would have found it, and that child support lien would have had to be paid before he saw a dollar. The number attached to it was about $25,000. On a house like this one, that was most of what he stood to make. He was stuck, and he had been stuck for a while.
What most people do
Most people in this spot do one of three things:
- They give up and let the house sit while the taxes pile up.
- They sell to someone who quietly subtracts the whole lien from the price and never says a word about it.
- They try to fight the lien themselves, get nowhere with the state, and go back to option one.
We did none of those.
What we did
We made him an offer for the house as is, with the child support lien still on it. Then we made the lien our problem.
Our team got on the phone with the office that holds the lien and negotiated. This is not magic and it is not a trick. These balances often have years of interest and fees stacked on top of the original amount, and the people who hold them would rather collect something now than nothing for another ten years. We showed them the house was being sold, we showed them what was realistic, and we worked it down.
The $25,000 child support lien settled for about $4,000. We paid it. It came off the house, and a big chunk of it came off his name too, which is the part he cared about most.
The deeds were recorded in early March. We closed in May, cleaned up what was left on title, and sold the house. He got paid for a house he had been told he could not sell.
Why this matters to you
If you inherited a house and you have any of these in your past, there is a good chance they are sitting on the house right now:
- Back child support
- A judgment from a credit card or a lawsuit
- An old IRS balance
- Unpaid HOA dues
- A city code violation or a demolition order
You may not even know. These attach quietly. The first time most people hear about them is when a title company runs the search and the deal falls apart.
Here is what we tell every heir who calls us:
- Do not assume the lien is what the letter says. The number you are looking at usually includes years of interest and penalties. The real number is negotiable more often than not.
- Do not pay it yourself before you know your options. Once you pay, there is nothing left to negotiate.
- Do not let it stop you from selling. We buy houses with liens on them every month. It changes the math. It does not end the deal.
- Tell us up front. The worst version of this is finding it at the title company two days before closing. The best version is telling us on the first call so we can price it in and go to work on it.
The short version
- Mother died in Willis. One son inherited.
- His own old child support lien from years back was sitting on his mother’s house.
- We bought the house with the lien on it, negotiated the $25,000 down to about $4,000, and paid it.
- He sold a house he thought he could not sell, and walked away with less hanging over his name than when he started.
If you inherited a house and there is a lien on it, or you think there might be, call or text me at 936-380-6384 or fill out the form. Tell me the address and what you know. Liens are a normal Tuesday for my team.
About the author
Raul Bolufe has bought and sold real estate since 2012, closed more than 800 deals, and paid more than 100 heirs for their share of inherited property across Texas and Florida. He hosts the Flipping Miami Podcast. More at raulbolufe.com.
Read next
- How to sell your share of an inherited house in Texas, even if the other heirs won’t
- “Can I Sell My Share of My Mother’s House?” She Did It From a Hospital Bed in Odessa
- Can I Sell My Share of an Inherited House Without My Siblings’ Permission in Texas?