QUESTION

Does equity of house have to be split with family member not listed on mortgage or title deed of house?

Asked on Mar 18th, 2013 on Real Estate - New York
More details to this question:
My wife and I, her mother and father, and her brother and now ex-wife all invested into a horse farm. The brother had horrible credit at the time so he was not listed on mortgage. He was also not listed on deed/title of the house. I was kicked out of the house 5 years ago and the house was appraised at $1,000,000. They never paid me out for my portion of the house. The house was now appraised recently at $900,000. I am filing under the Partition Act to have the house sold as they will not pay me out my portion and they can not afford the house. they have been borrowing from the 2nd mortgage to pay the 1st for the last 23 months. The amount owing in 5 years has actually increased. My question is, if the forced sale goes through does the equity in the house get split between only those on the deed or would the brother-in-law be included as well. Again, no name on mortgage, no name on deed and no promissory or legal notes ever made. BUT he did invest.
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1 ANSWER

Estate Planning Attorney serving New York, NY
1 Award
I hope you are using a lawyer for this partition case.  The issues you raise are actually not so easy.  Partition is an equitable action, so a court could impute the share of your brother in law.  However, not being on the deed is without more court rulings, a cause not to give him a share.  As he will raise this issue at some point, you really need to present this to the court the right way.
Answered on Mar 24th, 2013 at 9:15 AM

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