If someone died and left a house with a mortgage in a trust can you just keep making the house payments or do you need to notify the mortgage holder and can they demand the note be paid in full?

You didn't say if the person who left the house was a parent or a friend. If it's parents you must provide a copy of the death certificate to the mortgage holder. Usually, the mortgage holder would have no problem with you continuing on with the payments. Depending on where you stand in the Will you may have to take a loan out to either pay the full mortgage the mortgage holder is holding, and then make your mortgage payments to your own banking institution. It's best to go straight to the mortgage holder and ask these questions so there are no mistakes made. Good luck Marcy