New York Real Estate Partition Action Attorney

If you are a part-owner of a house, condominium unit, co-op apartment, commercial real estate or other real estate in New York State, you and the other co-owners might not share the same goals regarding the property. One co-owner might want to live in the property, while another might want the property to produce rental income, and another might want the co-owners to invest money to renovate the property, while another might want to sell the property in order to “cash out” his or her ownership interest. If co-owners of New York real estate cannot agree on whether to keep or sell the property, renovate the property, rent the property, or other important management issues, a partition of the property may be the solution. As an experienced New York Real Estate Partition Action Attorney, we may be able to help resolve your dispute regarding the joint ownership of New York real estate, either by a negotiated settlement, or by a New York Real Estate Partition Action.

A Real Estate Partition Action Attorney Can Help to Resolve Disputes Among Co-owners

Often the co-owners of NY real estate are brothers and sisters, or other blood relatives, and their disagreements about their co-ownership of the property has negatively affected their family or personal relationship. The co-owners may have purchased the property as tenants in common, or as joint tenants, or they may have inherited the property, and their expectations regarding the property are incompatible. The co-owners may be investors whose intentions regarding the property have changed. Alternatively, the co-owners may have been domestic partners when they purchased the property, but their personal relationship has ended. There may also be financial issues regarding the disparity in the co-owners’ respective contributions toward the down payment, mortgage payments, real estate taxes, renovations, maintenance, repairs, etc.

A New York Real Estate Partition Action Attorney can objectively examine the issues, and provide practical and legal advice. Our legal representation often de-escalates the disagreements or hostility, and facilitates an amicable resolution. As an experienced Real Estate Partition Action Attorney, we are often able to negotiate a resolution of the disputes among the co-owners of New York real estate, prior to litigation. We have successfully resolved many disputes among co-owners of real estate.

We Represent Co-owners of Real Estate in Resolving Disputes and in NY Real Estate Partition Actions

As an experienced New York Real Estate Partition Action Attorney, we can often negotiate a settlement of a dispute among co-owners of real estate in New York without the need for a partition action. Our New York partition lawyer may also negotiate the terms of a buyout of one of the co-owner’s interest in the real estate.

If it is impossible to negotiate a favorable settlement of the disputes among the co-owners of the property, the only remaining alternative may be to commence a Real Estate Partition Action. We represent clients in bringing or defending New York real estate partition actions. Our New York Real Estate Partition Action Attorney also zealously represents our client’s interest in being properly compensated for our client’s contributions toward the down payment, mortgage payments, real estate taxes, maintenance and upkeep of the property, if the co-owners’ contributions have been unequal.

New York Real Estate Partition Actions

A real estate co-owner’s legal right to bring a lawsuit for partition of the property is governed by New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL Article 9). New York courts will generally grant a partition action when the co-owners cannot agree on the management, use, or sale of the property. A co-owner may commence a partition action, whether the property is owned as tenants in common, or joint tenants with right of survivorship. The main exception to a co-owner’s entitlement to partition of NY real estate is if a co-ownership agreement, or a Last Will and Testament persuant to which the co-owners inherited the property, prohibits or limits the right to partition.

A partition action will usually not be an available remedy where the co-owners were married to each other when they purchased the property. If the real estate was purchased during the marriage, it will likely be considered marital property, and the partes’ ownership interests, and manner of distribution, would be determined in the divorce action.

Partition in Kind

If the real estate can be divided physically (such as where there are two similar buildings on the property), the court could direct a “partition in kind” or “actual partition.” In a “partition in kind” or “actual partition” each owner is granted complete control of a specific portion of the property (such as one of the buildings and half of the land.)

Partition by Sale

Usually, the property cannot be physically divided, or a physical division of the property would be prejudicial to one or more of the co-owners, and therefore a “partition by sale” is the more typical result of a NY partition action. In a “partition by sale”, the court appoints a referee and directs that the referee sell the property. All outstanding mortgages and other liens are satisfied at the closing of title out of the sales proceeds, and the remaining net proceeds are divided among the co-owners, in accordance with the judge’s directions. If the co-owners’ financial contributions toward the purchase and upkeep of the real estate were significantly unequal, the court order may direct a similarly unequal distribution of the net sales proceeds. The court may also consider whether any co-owners occupied the premises, and if so, whether they paid rent to the other owners, and whether the other co-owners were prohibited from occupying the premises. Also, if the property produced rental income, the court may also consider how the rental income was distributed to the co-owners.

How Can Our NY Partition Action Lawyer Help You?

When you hire our firm to be your New York partition action lawyer, if possible, we will try to negotiate a favorable settlement for you. If that is not possible, we can represent you in a New York Real Estate Partition Action. We represent co-owners of real estate, whether you are seeking to keep your part ownership interest in the property, or seeking to commence a New York Real Estate Partition Action, in order to convert your part ownership of the property into cash.

Contact Our NY Real Estate Partition Action Attorney

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Law Offices of Michael W. Goldstein

NY Real Estate Partition Action Attorney

Real Estate Litigation Attorney