Selling an inherited house in Superior, Wisconsin

If you read Minnesota advice, stop and check

People in the Twin Ports cross the bridge for work and school and assume the rules cross with them. Probate, deeds, taxes and liens are Wisconsin's here. A Minnesota page, including pages on this site about Minnesota, may not fit. Where this site covers both states, each state has its own section. Ask a Wisconsin attorney about yours.

Douglas County offices

Deeds are recorded by the Douglas County Register of Deeds, which is in the same courthouse at 1313 Belknap St., Room 108. Minnesota calls that office the Recorder. Probate is the Register in Probate, not a Minnesota registrar. Douglas County lists informal, formal, summary assignment, transfer by affidavit and other types of probate.

Rules that differ from Minnesota

• Wisconsin lets a transfer-on-death beneficiary take real property without probate if the designation was submitted for recording before the owner died.
• A surviving joint tenant can apply to the register of deeds to end the other owner's interest, as the statute describes.
• Wisconsin charges the seller a transfer fee when the deed is recorded, 30 cents per $100 of value, and lists some exemptions.
• Wisconsin treats property of spouses as community (marital) property, which can change the tax basis and who owns what after a death.
• Wisconsin's Medicaid estate claim is not allowable if a surviving spouse or a child under 21 or disabled is left, though a lien can follow the house.

Flooding and empty winters

A house left empty through a Lake Superior winter can also take on pipe and heating problems while taxes and insurance continue.

What we do for a Superior house

We buy houses on both sides of the bridge, directly from the family or the estate. No agent commission, no listing fee, a written number with the math, and a closing date you choose through a title company. We are based in Duluth, Minnesota, and have no office in Superior.

Read next

See who can sign the deed, probate offices and Medical Assistance and the house. Or return to the home page.