Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Re: Sale of property

Carefully review your settlement agreement. If there was nothing in it that contemplated a sale in the event of a disagreement, then you are going to court and hoping that a judge will allow a modification of the divorce agreement to order a sale, sort of a combination modification proceeding and partition action. the more you can show a compelling reason to sell at this time, the more of a shot you have. It's also going to be judge dependent--in other words who you get will affect what you have to show.

For more on NY law and court forms go to

http://justicenversleeps.net

Re: Sale of property

Since there is a dispute not covered by any written agreement (I am presuming that any written agreement between the parties did not cover the possibility that one party might want to sell and one might not want to sell), the general laws of real property seem to come into play. An suit for partition seems to be in order, which requires a formal court proceeding. In essence, the party that wants to sell must start the proceeding, which has various options: the party wanting to sell, can offer his/her share to the other party, to be bought out. If the offer is accepted, end of story. If there is no agreement between the parties, the house can be ordered by the Court to be sold. The person desiring the house, may be given a right of first refusal to match the offer of the proposed buyer, but this has to be requested as part of the proceeding, and the Court may or may not grant it. This is a response to an Internet question and the reply is not to be considered as legal advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. Since not all facts have been presented, further facts might produce a different response.

Re: Sale of property

X-Husband will have to bring court action and prove to court financial hardship in order to modify the divorce settlement and allow a sale.