My boyfriends father passed away and he owned a house. How can we get the house in our name?

You need to see a probate/real estate attorney. Title to the house could be a mess.

You will need a local attorney experienced in probate and real estate to take a look at the details. If the house was solely in his name, then it belongs to his estate and would pass according to his will or in the absence of a will according to state law, which is half the estate to the spouse, half to be divided among the children or descendants of deceased children. If he owned with his wife or another person, the form of ownership will impact things. You can let the property taxes default and then purchase the taxes at the tax sale, but there is a period of approximately 2 1/2 years in which the taxes can be redeemed by an owner. You will probably want to buy the taxes each year during that time. Then, you need to be very careful of the procedure to obtain a tax deed, which is very specific. You should use a firm that concentrates its practice in tax deed proceedings. You can acquire the property by adverse possession, but that requires 20 years and an attorney should advise you whether your possession is truly adverse. If the wife, in fact, has an interest, the simplest may be to hire an attorney to politely suggest a buyout of the wife's interest at a discount, suggesting that otherwise the property is likely to be lost for property taxes and other expenses, will leave her exposed to liability, etc. Perhaps this can be negotiated with a payment schedule. If this can be worked out, the attorney can also advise you whether this can be completed through a title company without court probate proceedings. You did not mention a mortgage, so I assume there is not any.