Texas businessman loses home ownership battle despite presenting evidence of a $287K bank transfer

A Texas businessman who claimed he paid for a property that later passed to his deceased business partner's children has lost his ownership challenge in an appeals court. This was despite presenting evidence of a $287,000 bank transfer that he said was used to buy the property. The Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas at Dallas upheld a lower court's decision.

It found that Kyle Harmon and his co-appellant, Gina Maria Ottavio, had failed to prove that a serious legal error was made in the probate orders. Those orders included a residential property in Plano, Texas, as part of the estate of Karrie Ellen Peterson.Harmon testified that while working overseas in 2015, he asked Peterson, his business partner in Hair Color Studios.com, LLC, to help him purchase the property. However, the warranty deed dated June 2015 named a different company, H.C.S LLC, as the property buyer.

The deed was never officially recorded in the county's property records, although a copy was given to the local appraisal district. In August 2021, Karrie Peterson died without leaving a will.