Finally, the wait is over!!!

After more than 7 years, I'm finally the owner, on paper, of my house in Tijuana, the house I grew up in, the house that my mother owned and the house I lived at after she passed away...

Now it can finally be sold (the picture above is the picture of my house that appears on Century 21's web site in Mexico), and with that John and I will have our down payment money for our own house. I will always be thankful to my mother for leaving me so many wonderful gifts, part of which is this house.

It has been a painful process: In 2002 I hired a lawyer who was a "friend" to make the house legally mine (my mom didn't make a will because she thought that she wasn't married, had taken away parental right from my father and I was an only child there would be no questions on who was the rightful owner)... I gave him some money, we went to the court house once with some witnesses (my mom's friends) to testify and that was it... In December 2002 he (the lawyer) went over to my house to get the money to change the title over to my name because the trial was "over"... That was the last time I saw him...

Long story short (or at least shorter) last year (2007) around September we decided to put the house on the market through Century 21 in Tijuana, they needed all the documents of the property up front so that once the buyer was ready there would be no problems with the sale... So... I went to the court, couldn't find my file; then they told me it was already sent to the archive, so I had to pay for a "search", after that they took it to the court, and the court personnel lost it!!! On Thanksgiving I drove down there to ask the Judge to order an internal search since my file was already there (and the clerks had seen it)... Some days later, they found it!!! That was good news, BUT the bad news what the trial was never finished!!! I had to hire a new lawyer.

I hired a lawyer whose office is across the street from the courthouse (hey, he couldn't dissapear, right?), and he submitted our first papers (after the long delay) on December 14... Well, the court went on vacation from that day until January 14...

Last Monday, finally, after all this time... The final veredict and disposition of my mom's estate was done!!!

I guess that's why they say that every story has a happy ending, even the once that take a long time and many frustations to finish them!!!

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Despues de mas de 7 anios soy la propietaria, en papel, de mi casa en Tijuana, la casa en la que creci, que era de mi mama, y la casa en la que vivi una vez que fallecio...

Ahora ya la podemos vender (arriba la foto de la pagina de Century 21 en Mexico), y con ello, John y yo tendremos dinero suficiente para el deposito de nuestra casa. Siempre le estare agradecida a mi mama por los regalos maravillosos que me dejo, entre ellos, esta casa.

Ha sido un proceso doloroso: En 2002 contrate a un abogado que era mi "amigo" para que la casa se cambiara legalmente a mi nombre (mi mama pensaba que como no estaba casada, y le habia quitado la Patria Potestad a mi progenitor y soy hija unica no iba a haber problemas y la casa seria mia automaticamente)... Le di dinero, y fuimos una vez al juzgado con testigos (con unas amigas de mi mama) a declarar. En diciembre de 2002, el abogado fue a mi casa a recoger el dinero para hacer el cambio de escrituras a mi nombre porque el juicio ya habia "terminado"... Fue la ultima vez que lo vi...

Para hacer el cuento corto (o un poco mas corto), el anio pasado (2007) como en Septiembre decidimos poner la casa en venta a traves de Century 21, ellos requieren toda la documentacion al principio para verificar que todo esta en regla antes de ofrecer la propiedad, asi que fui al juzgado a recoger una copia del fallo, y primero no podian encontrar el expediente; luego me dijeron que como ya era antiguo lo habian mandado al archivo muerto y tenia que pagar (y esperar) por que lo buscaran, asi que pague y espere; cuando llego al juzgado, el personal de ahi lo perdio!!! El dia de Accion de Gracias fui para alla a pedirle a "la licenciada" que por favor buscaran el expediente internamente porque ya estaba ahi (y algunos de los empleados lo habian visto)... Algunos dias despues lo encontraron!!! La mala noticia fue que el juicio nunca se termino!!! Tuve que contratar a otro abogado.

Contrate a un abogado cuya oficina esta en frente del juzgado (asi no se podia desaparecer, o si???) y el mando los primeros papeles (despues del "receso") el 14 de diciembre... El juzgado estuvo de vacaciones desde ese dia hasta el 14 de enero...

El lunes pasado, finalmente, recibi un email del abogado que por fin, habia salido la sentencia definitiva!!!

Me imagino que por eso dicen que todas las historias tienen un final feliz, hasta aquellas que toman mucho tiempo y muchas frustraciones para llegar al final!!!