My siblings and I received property from our mother through a quitclaim deed. She has since died. The property is in West Virginia and we live in Ohio. The deed was not signed by us and was never recorded through the courts.
Is this quitclaim deed valid? If it is, which state law has precedence, West Virginia, where the property is and where my mother lived, or Ohio? Our brother passed away two years ago, and his wife claims that she inherited his 1/7 ownership of the property. She does not want to relinquish rights, and we are looking for a loophole.
From your question, you seem to imply that your sister-in-law has a claim to the property if the quitclaim deed is valid, but that if the quitclaim deed is not valid she might be out of luck.
It's unfortunate that you feel the need to find a "loophole" to deprive your sister-in-law of her share of the property.
I guess you need to see what your mother's intent was when she gave all of you the property and signed the quitclaim deed. If her intent was to give each of her kids a piece of her property, and now due to terrible circumstances one of your brothers has died, his wife would probably be entitled to his share.
You might be right that there is a loophole for you to use. But you'll need to consult with a real estate attorney in West Virginia to determine if a quitclaim deed that was unrecorded during the lifetime of the grantor is still valid.
In some states, if a deed is not recorded promptly after delivery to the recipient, that deed can be presumed to be invalid, or other people who claim an interest in the home may trump the ownership interest of the people named on the deed.
Many people don't realize that a properly prepared and delivered quitclaim deed will transfer the ownership of a home even if the deed isn't recorded. The key, however, is that some jurisdictions penalize the party that fails to record the deed. Furthermore, if the deed was prepared and signed but never delivered to the intended recipients, you might be able to claim it is invalid; your case is even better if your mother never signed the necessary documentation.
When your mom died, her will would have dictated who received what share of her assets. If she left all of her assets in her will to her children equally, then your late brother would have received a share - and it's likely that his wife, or at least his and his wife's children, would have inherited his share of the property after his death.
