Found Deceased CO - Suzanne Morphew, 49, did not return from bike ride, Chaffee County, 10 May 2020 #12

[asmi106082]

Financial POAs are often "springing", meaning they're only effective when the person is dead or declared incapacitated in writing by an attending physician.

No, powers of attorney cease upon death. An individual would need to present a copy of the will to the local court, which will in turn name the person executor or executrix.

 

[Puzzles8]

The county tax assessor still has the home in the Morphews name, and they are still responsible for the taxes. So it could not have sold. An address lookup has the name of a tenant currently living at the address.

Property taxes are paid in arrears (at least in my state). This means the property taxes you pay this year relate to your ownership/occupancy the previous year. When you sell a property there is an adjustment at closing to reflect this. Though technically you are responsible.

 

[TxGidget]

If they did a seller carry back to facilitate the purchase would the assessor’s office reflect the current resident as responsible?

Yes. My understanding of a seller carry back, is that there would be a closing and transfer of deed to the new owner. Then the pervious owner acts as a banker, basically, and receives payments for all or part of the sales price.

 

[Puzzles8]

If they did a seller carry back to facilitate the purchase would the assessor’s office reflect the current resident as responsible?

No. The deed is held by the seller until the terms of the contact are fulfilled. Until that time, the seller is responsible for the payment of property taxes.

MOO, IANAL

 

[al66pine]

IN Statute. Notices Required re Guardianship Petition

According to Indiana Law, those closest to the person, by blood or by marriage, is notified upon filing and can consent or contest the guardianship prior to the hearing.

@KLM6 Thank you very much. Were you referring to this, below? Or something else?

"IC 29-3-6-1 Notice of petition and hearing; persons to whom notice must be given; waiver of notice
Sec. 1. (a) When a petition for appointment of a guardian or for the issuance of a protective order is filed with the court, notice of the petition and the hearing on the petition shall be given by first class postage prepaid mail as follows:
(4) If it is alleged that the person is an incapacitated person, notice of the petition and the hearing on the petition shall be given to the following persons whose whereabouts can be determined upon reasonable inquiry:
(A) The alleged incapacitated person, the alleged incapacitated person's spouse, and the alleged incapacitated person's adult children, or if none, the alleged incapacitated person's parents.
(C) In case no person other than the incapacitated person is notified under clause (A), at least one (1) of the persons most closely related by blood or marriage to the alleged incapacitated person.
(D) Any person known to the petitioner to be serving as the alleged incapacitated person's attorney-in-fact under a durable power of attorney.
(E) Any other person that the court directs.
Notice is not required under this subdivision if the person to be notified waives notice or appears at the hearing on the petition." bbm ubm
^ Indiana Code 2019 - Indiana General Assembly, 2020 Session ^

 

[MyBelle]

Yes and a guardianship is generally initiated in the state where the incapacitated person resides not where the property is that the proposed guardian wants control over - I am not an attorney but we handle FL guardianships - there is an examining committee appointed by the Judge to examine the person because it is a very big deal to determine a person incapacitated as you take away their rights one by one - how does IN handle jurisdiction of guardianship? And examine a missing person to declare them incapacitated? JMO

When my Dad died, he owned property in another state. The Probate Court Judge told me that out-of-state property had to be handled in the state it was located and he didn't have jurisdiction. It had been in the family for more than 100 years and was owned by multiple members of the family. Very expensive to untangle. I don't view what BM is trying to do as anything sinister. He may want to sell property to pay the expenses of his private investigators or his attorneys.

JMO

 

[TKG]

No. The deed is held by the seller until the terms of the contact are fulfilled. Until that time, the seller is responsible for the payment of property taxes.

MOO, IANAL

So, if SM & BM arranged a seller carry back (seller financing) this could show it sold yet they remain the responsible party for the taxes?

*My apologies if I continue to ask the same question. I’m trying to see if it’s possible and what property the petition would cover. The farm was transferred.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

This seems to be lost on our US sleuthers
Imo

The law came about in the UK as a direct result of campaigning from the father of missing Claudia Lawrence. Huge case in the UK and thread here. Just an aside. Families of the missing and murdered often make a difference

 

[BeckyF]

BBM:

Right now, I'm asking myself if there was some property transaction in the works prior to her disappearance that SM was NOT willing to sign off on.


And now, she's missing…which means she can't object to anything he wants to do with any of "their" assets.

What was it her relative called him?

Oh, yeah: "Controlling."

That was it.

JMO.

I’m thinking the same way. Maybe she wanted to move back to IN and wanted a home there. JMO

 

[Itsapuzzle]

Spontaneous thought .... if the helmet is the article that was found I'd have to say 100 per cent staged .... it would be too illogical for the helmet to be there .... err, even Columbo would be scratching his head at that.
It is very curious that BM wrote that note about the bike, biking gear and helmet for the shop in Salida. Very curious indeed.
Oh boy, this thread moves at a cracking pace, hey, only up to p.11 at this point, heading back now.

 

[gamma gal]

When my Dad died, he owned property in another state. The Probate Court Judge told me that out-of-state property had to be handled in the state it was located and he didn't have jurisdiction. It had been in the family for more than 100 years and was owned by multiple members of the family. Very expensive to untangle. I don't view what BM is trying to do as anything sinister. He may want to sell property to pay the expenses of his private investigators or his attorneys.

JMO

Perhaps the question of guardianship will be kicked back to CO?

 

[curiousgene]

I was under the impression that an awful lot of people need to be notified if someone was going for a guardianship i.e. parents, grandparents, siblings, children etc. It is a very big deal.

You are right! A lot of people will have to be notified and I am sure there will be someone from SM family who will file an objection to the guardianship petition. This is getting interesting!! MOO

 

[al66pine]

Legal ownership shown by prop tax billing?
Briefly: county official's info re 'send bill to' for prop taxes does not necessarily show who the legal owner is, ime.
I welcome confirmation, clarification or correction from our legal professionals, r/e agents, & county assessors.

@Puzzles8 post 402 ----- @TxGidget post 401 ----- @TKG post 406 --- @Backstroke10 post 395
Is it possible ppl are using some terms differently from each other?
The term 'seller carry back' describes a sale where a seller finances the prop for buyer & acts as lender w prop securing the debt, ime. Can be MLS sale w agent or non-MLS sale/private sale/family sale w no agent. Either way at 'closing' w seller executes deed to convey title to buyer, triggering change w county official, so buyer is billed in subsequent yrs.
W a land contract* or contract for deed, terms of the specific contract govern who pays property taxes over the years. Often seller name remains on records of county official who issues prop tax bills. Until seller/owner executes & records deed to buyer (could be years), seller is responsible for paying. When seller executes & records deed that triggers a change on county records so next yr prop tax bill is issued to buyer.
Back to finding SM.
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* land contract; contract for deed; agreement for deed; land installment contract. "... a contract between the buyer and seller of real property in which the seller provides the buyer financing in the purchase, and the buyer repays the resulting loan in installments. Under a land contract, the seller retains the legal title to the property, while permitting the buyer to take possession of it for most purposes other than legal ownership...." Land contract - Wikipedia

 

[vaporlass]

I thought they didn’t have any property registered to them in Indiana.

Has anyone come up with the same filing for Colorado?

Their former property in Indiana is still in their name. They must be financing it for the couple who purchased it in May 2019. The taxes were due on it recently May 11 to be exact and last I checked were overdue and UNPAID.

 

[kkdj]

All Inclusive Trust Deed or "wrap"
What Are the Functions of an All-Inclusive Deed of Trust?

 

[curiousgene]

The more I think about this, it’s a lot. Would a judge grant guardianship to Barry in a missing persons case? Would an attorney have to be appointed/hired on Suzanne’s behalf before anything proceeds? I can’t imagine a judge just handing over Suzanne’s assets to Barry without pause.

This is exactly what I have been thinking too. She has been missing for less than a month. The investigation is ongoing. How is the Judge going to declare her incapacitated? I know the immediate family members of SM can file an objection after they have been notified of the guardianship but I think BM will also have to notify Colorado LE about his petition since it is still an ongoing investigation. Can the Colorado LE object to this petition? I think they can and if they do, then we know what it means. I would think the Judge would want to have some inputs from Colorado LE before deciding on the petition. MOO

 

[Deleted member 102539]

Very interesting find.

I think it is highly unusual for BLM to be selling any real estate right now. I would think his mind would be obsessed with thoughts of finding SM.

Unless he needs cash and his thoughts are elsewhere...

Something to do with his nephew?

 

[Deleted member 102539]

Not sure if this aspect has already been covered here...found on twitter. This is an interesting new development.

Indiana Supreme Court public access case search - MyCase

EU restrictions as always for IN.

 

[vaporlass]

Yes! That's exactly what this reminds me of. Makes me wonder if someone followed that case.

Michael Chambers! Exactly what I was thinking, as well. I’m not far from there, my brother lives there. His wife had him legally declared dead within 3 weeks. The right connections, in the right places helped. She had things to sell, insurance to collect etc.
Family believes she is involved. No body ever found, no charges ever filed. Sad.

 

[Deleted member 102539]

Kind of a morbid thought, but if you planned to murder someone you’d need months of checklists and plans in order to pull it off. And even then, you’d still forget something or there would be some type of change or difference that you hadn’t accounted for.

Possible, to have a "manager" for all this?