Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New Hampshire

Re: Petition for Partition or What?

The first question to ask is where is the proper Court for dealing with this controversy located? Is there an estate currently undergoing Probate in Maine? Most likely you will need to co-ordinate with NH counsel to open "ancillary" probate in NH to address the real estate asset located there. (My office does a considerable amount of Probate work in Maine and we associate with various firms in NH for ancillary matters).

The partition process itself is not one that you will find an attorney who specializes in it, rather you will want to find one with real estate experience who has used the process for partition before. However, the partition will need to be filed as part of the Probate, so it may be wise to engage a law firm that can cover the bases.

The partition, as well as Probate, can be done on a pro-se basis depending upon your comfort level dealing with legal issues and rules, as well as dealing directly with the "lowball" sibling once matters become adversarial and unpleasant.

There are no specific pitfalls I can point out to be aware of in the partition process, but in general, the case must be properly pleaded, request proper relief, be served correctly upon everyone, and an expert will need to be used to provide to the Court the value of the property. Once an Order is obtained, the process of sale needs to be followed exactly by the rules to ensure that the best price is achieved and there are no grounds for a party to appeal or challenge to sale process.

Most often, once a recalcitrant party realizes the time and expense involved with a partition, there will be a settlement of the issue.