My parents had a house in Portugal when I was growing up. They split when I was a teenager and my DF went to live full-time in the property which was in joint names. DF got a new partner and they both lived there together until she died. DF died 15 years ago. It came to light after DF died that he had signed his half of the property over to his partner and on her death, her half went to her two children who are German. My DM had no idea he had done this. DF was a malicious bastard and would have done this out of spite.
DM consulted a solicitor sometime (6 years) after DF's death and was advised that because 5 years had elapsed after she'd been made aware of the situation then she was not able to challenge this. It should be noted that my DM is absolutely useless. She has some significant MH issues and just lacks an ability to actually do anything but she does have mental capacity to make decisions.
DM has continued to use the house in Portugal, at one point she was renting a room as an air b and b. This was done with the consent of the German owners and paid for their half of the upkeep. They have not visited the property and have very little to do with it. My DM is not in great health now and we are looking at getting all her affairs in order. She would like to have a concrete plan in place for the Portugal property, to either rent it as a long term rental or to sell it. The house needs quite a bit of work for either scenario and we have advised her to not spend any money on it until she has received legal advice and consulted the German owners through the correct channels (as opposed to a Facebook message which is what she would like to do). She has said she has begun to liaise with a solicitor but my DSIS still questions the veracity of the information she received initially. With DM being the way she is, it is difficult to challenge her and she is very evasive. It's perfectly plausible that she didn't actually consult someone in the first place and lied about it. DSIS and I often just try and walk away and dissociate ourselves in these situations but as she is getting older we are finding more and more that we have to deal with the messes she creates of everything.
Could anyone advise if the information she was provided is correct please? If anyone can recommend any good solicitors with knowledge of Portuguese law and property, that may be able help with this that would also be really useful too please.
TIA