<prompt> Human: Edit 2: All the homes are paid off and have no mortgages. Edit: The properties are in different stars than we live in. Washington and Arizona Heres the story. My wife and I are finishing up our last years of college and we have a newborn baby. My wifes dad died this week. He wasnt the type of man to have things organized and made a lot of shady business deals. At the time of death he owned four not-so-great properties in a few states. One is an empty lot. Two are cheap modular homes one of which is in very bad condition and the fourth one is a lot of land with two modular homes on it the homes do not have a foundation underneath them, which I heard will make it unsellable? My wife is already on the deeds for these properties so she wont be inheriting them, but now makes her responsible for them? The properties have renters on them, but they are mostly shady people who I dont really want to deal with. We originally planned to keep the properties and collect the rent money. But now we are finding out that lots of money is owed in property taxes, utility bills, repairs, etc. We have no money and the rent payments would barely help. We are also afraid that there are other debts that we might have to be responsible for, and that all this will affect my wifes credit, since the properties are in her name on the deed. Another question, I know that many debts are paid by the estate. What would be the estate in this situation, since the property wasnt solely owned by my wifes dad?I personally want to just sell all the property because they are extremely far from where we live, and I dont have the patience to deal with the mess he left us. I dont really care about the money from rent since it seems to be more hassle and upfront cost than we have and want to deal with. I told my wife that she isnt responsible to paying back the utility bills, which werent in her name, but the property is, but she seems like she think she has to pay everyone back. The renters also seem to be taking advantage of her and saying that she has to pay all these things too. We are already paying for the funeral stuff and have no money. What should we do? What are some laws I should know? Assistant: Wow, consult an estate attorney immediately. You cant afford not to. Is the property in a different state from where you now live?Any DEBT which has her name on as a borrower, she will be responsible for. If she is not the borrower, but her name is on the deed; I dont know, help me out folks. Normally you can disclaim an inheritance, but I dont know about this situation.Do nothing until you get sound advice. It shouldnt take long, the most important thing you can do at the moment is assemble the list of creditors, and see whose name is on each account - mortgage, utilities, etc.Cross post to rlegaladvice, and include the states and more details about the accounts.Human: Normally you can disclaim an inheritance, but I dont know about this situation.That would be the solution 100, if her name wasnt already previously on the deed. Its not an inheritance, its just flat out her property and always has been. One more vote for an attorney, this is a grade-A clusterfuck that randos on the internet cant give OP adequate guidance on.Assistant: It seems like we will need a lawyer, or just end up selling everything. I wish we didnt need a lawyer because we have no money and this whole situation is sending us into debt. But Ill try and figure something out  <response>: Sorry to heap on some depressing advice, but I would say you need a lawyer even before you sell. Selling a property doesnt magically absolve any debt that made it into your wifes name. 