No Death Certificate: Three Sisters, One Inherited House in Houston

Three sisters owned their father’s house on the Fort Bend side of Houston, and the first thing the title company asked for was the one thing they did not have. A death certificate.

I’m Raul Bolufe. My company buys inherited houses and heir shares across Texas. People search “sell inherited house Houston multiple heirs” and land on stories about siblings fighting. This is not one of those. These sisters agreed with each other. The paperwork was the fight. I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. It is what happened.

Their father’s house

Their father passed away at 61. He left a house on Maywood Drive with a couple of years of back taxes on it and three daughters who each owned a piece of it.

Richard on my team reached out to the family in February 2026. The sisters were ready. They did not want to hold the inherited house, they did not want to fix it up, and they did not want to spend a year figuring out who had to sign what. They wanted it sold.

Our paralegal pulled the title report and started building the family tree the next day. That is always the first step. Before we pay anyone, we need to know exactly who inherited. We do not take the family’s word for it, not because we doubt them, but because a title company will not take their word for it either.

Nobody had a death certificate

Then we hit the wall.

To sell an inherited house, somebody has to prove the owner is actually gone. That means a death certificate. The sisters could not produce one. I will not go into why, but the circumstances of their father’s death had involved a police report, and the certificate was not something they could pull out of a drawer.

Nobody keeps their father’s death certificate in a folder labeled “for when a house buyer asks.” I understand that. But the title company needs it, and without it nothing moves.

So our team worked the problem from two directions. One was to request the records tied to the police report and see if the title company would accept that trail. The other was to have one of the sisters sign a power of attorney so we could order the certificate ourselves on the family’s behalf. Our paralegal made a note that same day that we needed a consistent way to get that paper when heirs cannot provide it, because this was not going to be the last time.

It got done. That is the point. If you are stuck at the death certificate step, it is a step, not a wall.

Selling an inherited house in Houston with multiple heirs: three signatures, one package

With three heirs, the question people always ask is whether everyone has to agree. On this one they did, so it was simple in that way. Our paralegal prepared one package for all three sisters, with each of them signing for her own share, plus an affidavit of heirship, which is a sworn statement about who the family is, that one of the sisters signed.

The documents went out in late February. One set had to be revised and sent back, which happens. Everything was recorded with the county electronically by April 10.

Our attorneys did some cleanup on the title along the way. That cost us money, not the sisters. It is built into how we buy.

What the title company asked for

Here is a detail I like, because it shows you how title companies think. The title company asked for a death certificate for the sisters’ father. Then it asked for our own company’s formation papers. The documents that show my company exists and who is allowed to sign for it.

A title company will ask for paperwork you did not know existed. On this deal it asked for ours too. We sent it. That is the job.

Sold in May

We sold the inherited house to a cash buyer through a title company on May 27, 2026. From Richard’s first contact with the sisters to the day it funded was about three and a half months, and most of that was paperwork and recording.

Richard’s message to me a couple of weeks before closing was that it “might be the biggest we have had, and more like that one to come.” I am not going to put numbers on it. I will say that three sisters who had been stuck at a missing piece of paper got paid, and none of them had to go to court to do it.

What this means for you

Multiple heirs on an inherited house is not the hard part. Three sisters, three signatures, one package. When the family agrees, the family is easy.
The death certificate is the first thing a title company wants. If you cannot get one, tell us on the first call. We have gone through police records and powers of attorney to get there. It is a step, not a wall.
We build the family tree ourselves before anyone is paid. If your family has a name that does not fit, a relative nobody talks about, a child from another relationship, we find it and sort it out.
Back taxes, title cleanup, attorney work: ours, once you sell. You do not write those checks.
Expect three to four months on an inherited house like this, most of it waiting on paperwork, not on people.

The short version

Father died at 61. Inherited house on the Fort Bend side of Houston. Three daughters, a couple of years of back taxes.
No death certificate available. We worked it through the police report and a power of attorney route.
All three sisters signed. Recorded by April 10, 2026.
Title company asked for our own company formation papers on top of everything else. We sent them.
Sold to a cash buyer through a title company May 27, 2026. Richard called it maybe the biggest one we have had.

If you and your brothers or sisters inherited a house in Houston and you are stuck on a piece of paper, call or text me at 936-380-6384, or fill out the form. Tell me the address, who passed away, and how many of you there are. I will tell you what we need and what your shares are worth. Here is more on how to sell your share of an inherited house in Texas. And if the house is anywhere around Houston, here is how we sell an inherited house in Houston.

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.