Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York
I've lived with my boyfriend and his mother for the past 5 years. We have a trailor on about 1 acre of land which half of it my boyfriends' mother owns, and half of it is owned by his fathers ex wife. She got it in the divorce. His father has now passed on and we want to put a new house there but we keep being told we need the ex wife's permission. If the ex wife hasn't paid any taxes on her half in about 20 years, my boyfriends mom has been paying all the taxes, does she have any right to the land or any say in it?
2 Answers from Attorneys
You probably should consider a suit for partition which is like a divorce between partner land owners. The Court will order the property appraised and then sold, unless the parties agree to have one buy out the other. The unpaid taxes should be an offset against the puyout price.
If the land may be divided, a partition action may not work since this is an unimproved empty lot. What I found interesting is that for approximately 20 years the ex-wife has not paid tax. I am assuming that she has not been on the property or made no claims to the property. Furthermore, during this period of time your boyfriend's mother has been living on the property, paying taxes and caring for the property. You may have a claim for adverse possesion. A lawsuit based on adverse possession would allow your boyfriend's mother to take title to the entire lot.
Mike.
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