In a message dated 5/16/2009 6:25:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ldfi...@hotmail.com writes: > I just wanted to inform as many people as possible of an issue that > has been affecting some of us who are currently living away from the > Azores but still have some ties with the Islands either through family > that are still living or deceased. > > I am a Portuguese Canadian, my parents were born on the Island of > Santa Maria and moved to Canada in the 70's. Most of my aunts and > uncles moved away from the island as well leaving both my paternal and > maternal grandparents on the Island. Any one familiar with the island > knows that as a result of the emigration of citizens over the recent > history of the Islands has led to many old homesteads and property > unclaimed by heirs who either have little knowledge of the inheritance > laws, do not have knowledge that they have even inherited property or > often feel that the difficulties in making a claim outweigh any > benefits. A lot of land and houses lay abandoned because of this. > > Over the past 15 years or so, there have been a number or unscrupulous > people who have taken advantage of this, there are numerous stories of > people selling property to unsuspecting buyers who in the end do not > have legitimate rights to do so. I would like to tell you of our > story. > > About ten years ago, a german woman approached my functionally > illiterate grandmother regarding a piece of property that included the > home that my grandfather had been raised in. My grandmother, was > convinced that this woman was genuinely trying to help her out by > taking over the maintence of the property. She understood and > explained to the german woman that the property was partly owned by > her children (my father and his brothers) and that there was no way > that it could be legally sold to her. She indicated that she > completely understood and that she was only looking for a place where > she could spend vacations and they agreed to a long term rental > agreement. > > Last year, just after my grandmother passed away, we noticed that my > grandfathers home was listed on the internet up for sale. Since then > we have traveled to Santa Maria a number of times and after speaking > with the land titles office have discovered that this woman has done > this to many families there. Currently there are eight claims against > her. We were extremely lucky to catch her before she actually sold > the property, but we are still in the process of getting the titles > changed to the legitimate heirs. One of the cases that has been heard > and won was for a German couple who purchased a home from her, gave > her the deposit that she had been asking for then after investing a > lot of money on renovations, discovered that the actual heirs lived in > California. They have since rectified everything, and were successful > in getting their deposit back from the person who sold it to them, but > even so, this woman continues to operate there. My parents found out > from city hall on Santa Maria that she has a reputation, that the real > estate agencies no longer accept her listings so she is operating from > Sao Miquel. > > I strongly urge people who still have family or ties in the Azores to > be aware of their property and land. I know that since then I have > been scanning the internet all the time for "land for sale on the > Azores". > This is a very old problem. Even for those in the Azores, people often die without wills and the "partilhas" (the division of the estate among the widow and surviving children) are often done by word of mouth and never registered in order to avoid legal fees and taxes. In my father's case, when he bought out his father's share of an estate, he found that the deeds were still in the name of his great grandparents!
The other problem is that, just as in the US, if someone pays the taxes on a property, lives on the property, essentially occupies without interference from the owners, then, after seven years, that person has the right to insist that he be granted title to that property. I know of many people whose parents and grandparents owned property in the Azores. When the owners die, the heirs take no action to probate these estate (the so called "partilhas"), and trust friend and neighbors to work the land, pay the taxes etc. Unfortunately, some of those friends and neighbors, having paid the taxes for a number of years without reimbursement from the heirs, simply claim the property for themselves. The heirs feel cheated; the people who claim the land feel that, since they've paid the taxes on the land without reimbursement, they are entitled to claim the parcel of land as their own. I've always taken care to take care of these matters. My wife has been much more laissez-faire; as a consequence she has had the unfortunate experience of learning that a parcel she thought was hers now belongs to her cousins! The fault lies with those who just assume that they can ignore an estate matter and with those who take advantage of that ignorance. Idfiggy has presented us with a cautionary tale. John Miranda Raposo --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
