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Long Island Real Estate Lawyer

When it comes to real estate, there are a lot of moving parts and aspects to consider. One such aspect is when one person may want to keep the property and the other co-owner wants to sell. This is when a partition lawsuit may be the best course of action in order to come to a decision. At our law office, we handle all different types of legal disputes in the real estate world and come help you settle any issue. In many instances, you will need an attorney in order to find a legal remedy for partition action. Protect your real estate interests by filing a partition lawsuit and get the expert legal advice of Ms. Acevedo today.

Our law office is located in Center Moriches, New York and we work with clients from across Long Island. Call our office today. We handle a wide range of real estate matters, including the purchase and sales of commercial properties and homes.

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What is a Partition Lawsuit?

Partition lawsuits happen when two or more people have ownership of a piece of property, but cannot agree on what to do with the property. In most cases, this is when one party wants to sell and the other party does not. It can also apply to wanting to rent out the property or building a new structure. Any aspect that revolves around the property and is not agreed upon by all parties is subject to a partition lawsuit.

Partition lawsuits apply for both commercial and residential properties. For homes, this sort of lawsuit is common when family members cannot agree on what to do with the actual property, most notably after someone passes away. And of course when there is a divorce a whole can of worms opens up in regard to the home and how it breaks down. Our law office does handle divorce cases too, so we are well aware of the issues that arise from a divorce.

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Who Can File a Partition Lawsuit?

There are three different kinds of co-ownership of real estate that have the right to petition to partition and those three kinds are as followed:

  • Joint tenancy
  • Tenancy in common
  • Tenancy by the entirety

In all three of these cases, if the property in question is a home then it is owned as a whole. So no rooms are off-limits. Once the partition suit is filed, then the court examines if the co-owned property can be physically divided between all of the owners. If there is a person who wants to dissolve ownership of a jointly owned property, they have the right to sell their interest.

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Process of Filing for a Partition Suit

Here is a breakdown of what the partition process looks like.

File a petition to partition: It starts by filing in the court where the property is located and you must name all of the co-owners in the petition. At the same time there is the filing of a default notice, which is a document that notifies everyone with the ownership interest of the suit.

Judge issues an interlocutory judgement: This is when the court decides that the plaintiff has the right to partition. Once the right to partition is established, then the judge will issue an interlocutory judgement, which lays out the property owners’ interest in the property, orders the property to be partitioned, and lastly decides how it will be broken up.

Appointing a partition ref: The superior court has to appoint a referee whose job is to oversee the partition action and make sure it is done in a fair manner that is according to the joint tenants or owners’ interests. All of the individuals with ownership rights are obligated to pay for the referee’s legal fees.
Getting to a solution: If all of the parties are willing to cooperate in the process, then the end result can be found without litigation. An attorney can negotiate a partition agreement out of court. However, if the parties do not reach any agreement, then the court will make the final decision.

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How Partition Action Usually Ends

When it comes to partition action, these cases usually end in one of two ways:

  1. The most common way for this to end is that the court orders the sale of the property at auction or private sale and each co-owner gets an equal share of the sale.
  2. The court awards ownership of the property to one person and orders them to buy the interest from the other co-owners.

This process usually takes a few months, so do not expect a quick resolution.