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Old 14-06-19, 23:17
MFletcherGA24 MFletcherGA24 is offline
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Question Strange Property Deed Issue

I have an interesting conundrum I'm hoping someone may have seen or has an idea. I have an ancestor who left Hector, NY in May 1836 and sold his land, brought his family and bought land (80 acres) a month later in St. Joseph County, MI. I have the deeds from the sale in NY and for the purchase in Michigan.
I had some assistance from an angel on another group who went to the county courthouse and looked for other deeds, as well as a probate record for this ancestor as it appears he died 4 years later (his wife was listed as head of household on 1840 census). She was unable to find a will for him, yet somehow we have found over a period of 9 years 3 of this ancestors sons and 2 son in laws conveyed the exact same property to the youngest son, their brother. The weird part is no will to show inheritance, there is no deed transferring the property to my ancestors children, and they didn't convey the land at the same time, each issued a deed for the exact same property (and size) a year or two apart from the other over 9 years, until the youngest son who they all conveyed it to, sold it to someone before left moved out of state himself.
Has anyone seen anything like this? Any suggestions?
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Old 14-06-19, 23:23
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kiterunner kiterunner is offline
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I suppose they could have inherited it from their father without him leaving a will? Did they each transfer the whole property (the full 80 acres) to the brother, or did they each transfer a share of it, suggesting they inherited equal shares? Or could they all have inherited the property, as joint owners, and each in turn transferred their share of the joint ownership to the youngest brother?
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Old 15-06-19, 01:18
MFletcherGA24 MFletcherGA24 is offline
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They each transferred the entire property as a whole to the one brother.
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Old 15-06-19, 07:27
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You would need someone versed in US law to confirm this, but I could see a scenario:

Your ancestor dies without a will.
As an intestate, his property descends to all the children as tenants in common.
All the children have moved away/ got jobs of their own except the youngest.
As tenants in common, they have rights over the entire property.
When they come back home to visit, he gets them to assign their entire rights to him.
He only fully owns the property when the last sibling assigns their right.
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Old 15-06-19, 15:42
MFletcherGA24 MFletcherGA24 is offline
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Kinda what I was wondering as well. I'm going to check with the local county laws, and hopefully this scenario with the complete lack of other evidence will suffice. Thanks
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