Bizarre End to Separate Property Dispute

In a bizarre twist to a hotly disputed divorce in New York State, a doctor blew up his building in Manhattan -- a building that had been appraised at over $5 million. Sounds like "War of the Roses" ! The appellate decision would force him to sell the real estate. His explosion -- which he survived -- was apparently his way of saying, "If I can't have it, then neither can you."

The doctor had claimed that the building was his separate property, inherited from his parents. However, the appellate court held that it made no difference whose name was on the title. Title alone could not deprive the wife of her community interest in property that had been acquired with marital funds, that had been improved with marital funds, and that had appreciated due to efforts made by the wife.

Surely the result was in accord with some of Michigan's recent cases involving separate property claims -- Bone v Bone, 148 Mich App 834, 838 (1986); Hanaway v Hanaway, 208 Mich App 278 (1995); Reeves v Reeves, 226 Mich App 490, 575 NW2d 1 (1997).

Read the New York appellate court's opinion here.  Bartha v Bartha

A New York Times article may be accessed here. There are links to some specacular slide shows on the NYT website.

Comments

[Daniel clement]

The Appellate Division correctly applied New York law which distributes property regardless of the form in which title is held.

Daniel Clement

[Char Quinn]

2 brothers buy a vacation cabin. Years later 1 brother wants to take out just his original down payment to buy land. (no equity earned) with the verbal agreement that he can buy back in when he is ready. Brother #2 will not comply. Is this just tough rocks? Or is there more to it?

[Jeanne M. Hannah]

Char,

I don’t have enough facts. Of utmost importance is how the brothers own the cabin. Is it titled as “Joint tenants with full rights of survivorship?” Or is it titled “tenants in common?” The latter would be more normal in a case where brothers buy something together.

In general, in Michigan, if the property is titled as tenants in common, then the brother who wants his money out could file an action in court to “partition” the land/cabin. This would force a sale. The law is undoubtedly the same in all states except possibly Louisiana. 49 states have laws that are derived from English common law. Louisiana is different. The law there derives from the Napoleonic Code. I have no idea how this case would be decided under the code.

[Kevin D. Caldwell]

I married my wife in 1992. We divorced in 1998. I was awarded the marital home that my grandfather built in 1940. We remarried in 1999 and are considering divorce again. Would my house be considered "separate property"?

[Jeanne M Hannah]

Kevin, there are several other facts that may make a difference in my response to your question. Why don't you call to schedule an appointment?

Jeanne M. Hannah

[music]

very interesting.
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