I own a coop apartment in Manhattan NYC with my deceased brother
50%/50% split.  He did not have a will and his 2 1/2 year old daughter
is the beneficiary of his estate.

The Administrator of his estate (which has not been settled yet) is
the baby's mother (not my brother's wife) appointed by NY State law
and the relationship with the mother is quite poor.  (The family has
not seen the baby in over 2 years).

The apartment was an investment property and I have offered to buy the
unit outright for market value and was refused by the
mother/administrator. I would like to move into the apartment and only
pay maintenance and mortgage expenses.  I am not looking to burn
anyone out of money - but I do own half this property and would like
to take advantage of reasonable Manhattan living.

Are there any laws in NY City that involve partnerships of this sort
and/or how is the control of the apartment handled?  Also has anyone
had a similar circumstance and how was it handled?

---

Request for Question Clarification by serenata-ga on 28 Dec 2003 16:38 PST

Hello Joemak5 ~

I am sorry for the loss of your brother.

How did your brother and you own the apartment? Was it as tenants in
common? Joint tenants with right of survivorship? An undivided
one-half interest? The type of ownership should be on the conveyance
document, and would make a difference as to how this question might be
answered.

Thanks,
Serenata

---

Clarification of Question by joemak5-ga on 28 Dec 2003 17:24 PST

We were tenants in common, I think.  I know for sure that there is no
right of survivorship. The stock certificate reads  "MY Name & HIS
Name".
I dont understand what the last one means - An undivided one-half
interest? but I am pretty sure we are tenants in common.
Thank you again
joemak5

<As a tenant-in-common you have the right to live in the property and
have entire use of it. The other tenant cannot stop you from taking
possession and using the entire property.

You also have the right to force the sale of the property. You would
be entitled to a share of the profits from the sale. Alternatively you
could bid to buy the property outright. You may also be able to force
the other tenant to accept a fair market price and avoid the property
being auctioned.

The co-owner of a property has two remedies for selling his/her share
if the other co-owner is not in agreement with the sale of the
property. The legal term used is partition. A joint owner has the
right to seek partition in one of two ways ? partition in kind or by
sale.

Partition in kind is the physical division of the property so that
each owner has a separate share. For example if there are three
co-owners of a large property that is divided up into six apartments,
it is a simple matter for the court to order that each co-owner
receives title to two apartments. As the individual owners then have
title to their own parts of the property they can sell them.

If it is impractical to divide a property because it is for example a
single house on a small piece of land or as in your case it is one
apartment then it is possible to seek partition by sale. Here one
co-owner can force the other to sell the property in its entirety with
the proceeds of the sale being divided between the co-owners. The
property will be sold by auction. The co-owners may also bid to buy
the property. The owner does this by making an application to a court
for sale by partition.

A case that went to the supreme court last year may help you to get
your offer of a fair market price accepted.  The supreme court found
that the trial court could have exercised its discretion to allow one
of the tenants to accept a fair offer from the other to buy him out if
his half ownership of the property.
http://www.gaycitynews.com/GCN16/breakingup.html

New York State ? Real Property Actions and Proceedings ? Article 9 ?
Action for partition.
http://www.tenant.net/Other_Laws/RPAPL/rpapl09.txt

Property
http://www.law.nyu.edu/studentorgs/sba/outlines/firstyear/property/Caldwell_s95_2.doc

Property outline.
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/sba/outlines/Other/Condensed%20property%20outline.doc>


<Additional links:>

<Co-ownership and condominium.>
<http://encyclo.findlaw.com/1400book.pdf>

<Supreme court ruling ? an example of a case for partition.>
<http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/appeals/opinions/20020220/00-1524.asp>


<Search strategy:>

<"shared ownership " -uk "right to sell">
<://www.google.com/search?q=%22shared+ownership+%22+-uk+%22right+to+sell%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&start=20&sa=N>


<Hope this helps.>