'Troubling pattern' in Nevada's probate system could be changed with new state bill

Eli Segall, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Apr 7, 2025

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Nevada lawmakers on Monday heard a bill that would boost requirements to oversee a probate case, and were told a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigation uncovered a “troubling pattern” in the system.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee discussed Senate Bill 404, which would add steps needed to take over a dead person’s estate after the Review-Journal found a cottage industry cashed in on dead people’s homes across Southern Nevada for years through probate court.

These cases routinely started without family participation, frequently involved sales to a small circle of buyers who resold the homes within months, and often ended with nothing for heirs, the Review-Journal found.

SB 404 is now scheduled for a work session Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Soraia Bohner, an intern for Sen. Melanie Scheible, D-Las Vegas, chair of the panel, told committee members Monday that the bill “addresses a troubling pattern uncovered by a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigation.”

Bohner said the newspaper revealed that a small group of private administrators, real estate agents, attorneys and house flippers had “exploited vulnerabilities in Nevada’s probate process” to profit from dead people’s estates, “often without family involvement or knowledge.”

She also said the bill seeks to restore “fairness, transparency and integrity to the probate process.”

“Probate should serve families, not facilitate private profit at their expense,” Bohner told the committee.

Statement of qualifications

Probate cases involve transferring ownership of a dead person’s property and settling their debts. Under Nevada law, virtually anyone can manage a probate case, even if they have no connection to the deceased, and sell the dead person’s home with limited court oversight, the Review-Journal found.

Family members have top priority in Nevada to manage a probate case, but last on the 10-deep list in state law is anyone “legally qualified” for the task. It’s a low bar, as any adult in Nevada can run a probate case if they are not a convicted felon.

Would-be administrators also could be blocked over a conflict of interest, “drunkenness” or “lack of integrity,” state law says.

SB 404 would require those who are just legally qualified to obtain a “finding of good cause” for their appointment.

This finding “must be based on evidence,” including a statement of qualifications and an affidavit of their due diligence to find any living heir, such as a report from an heir finder and proof of service of certified mail to all potential heirs, the measure says.

High case load

Two of Southern Nevada’s most prolific private administrators of the past decade — Estate Administration Services founder Thomas G. Moore and his probate successor Cynthia “Cyndi” Sauerland, an agent with Compass Realty & Management — were involved with at least 500 probate cases combined in Clark County District Court.

They often started cases without family involvement and routinely obtained court authority to sell homes through a process that does not require a judge’s approval of the deal or competitive bidding that could boost the price, the Review-Journal found.

They frequently sold homes at steep discounts to estimated values, often to the same circle of repeat buyers who flipped them for a higher price, and the probate cases often ended with no proceeds for heirs, the newspaper found.

The probate group tracked by the Review-Journal frequently sold homes through lender-approved transactions known as short sales. In such deals, a property is purchased for less than what’s owed on the seller’s mortgage, typically because the home fell in value.

Southern Nevada probate lawyer Elyse Tyrell has said the high volume of underwater homes and short sales tracked by the Review-Journal raised concerns for her, noting an administrator could still get paid even if the family doesn’t.

‘False narrative’

Moore, Sauerland and their associate Adam Fenn of Compass Realty — who bought at least two dozen homes through probate from Sauerland and flipped most of them — previously said they were helping solve the problem of abandoned homes.

It’s not uncommon in Las Vegas for empty buildings to get taken over by squatters, fall into disrepair, become a neighborhood nuisance or go up in flames.

“It’s a service to the community,” Sauerland previously said. “It’s not just, ‘Everybody’s running around making money.’”

Fenn, who has said that many heirs had washed their hands of the situation, wrote a letter of opposition to SB 404. He argued that the measure seeks to impose “an ambiguous regulation” based on a “false narrative” from the media, among others.

He objected to the “vague requirement” that seeks a statement of qualifications from would-be administrators, saying this lacks “clear, defined standards.”

“This ambiguity invites inconsistent application and could arbitrarily target and disqualify professionals who have a long record of effective, lawful service in this space,” Fenn wrote.

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