New York’s RPAPL 993 Protects Heirs From Losing Inherited Property
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By Dan Rose
When a parent or grandparent passes away and leaves a house to multiple family members, it rarely takes long for disagreements to surface. One sibling wants to sell. Another is living in the home rent-free and refuses to leave. A third has stopped returning phone calls altogether. I see these disputes constantly in my practice, and they tend to get worse, not better, with time.
What many New York families do not realize is that inherited property disputes carry a very specific risk. Under traditional partition law, any co-owner (even an outside investor who purchased a small fractional interest) could force a court-ordered auction of the entire property. These auctions routinely sell homes for well below market value, and the families who built their lives around those homes often walk away with a fraction of what the property is actually worth.
That is precisely the problem New York’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act was designed to solve. Codified as RPAPL § 993 and signed into law in December 2019, this statute fundamentally changed how inherited residential property is handled when co-owners reach an impasse. As a Queens New York estate attorney, I consider it one of the most significant protections available to heirs today, and one of the least understood.
What Makes Property Qualify as “Heirs Property”
The statute does not apply to every co-owned home. To trigger RPAPL § 993 protections, the property must meet a specific set of criteria. It must be held as a tenancy in common, which is the default form of ownership when property passes through an estate. At least one co-tenant must have inherited their interest from a relative. The property must be residential or agricultural in use. And there must be no written agreement among all the co-owners governing how the property should be divided or sold.
There is one more layer. The statute also requires that at least one of four relationship thresholds be met, such as twenty percent or more of the ownership interests being held by relatives, or an heir who inherited their share actually living in the home.
If the court determines the property qualifies, the entire partition process shifts to a framework designed to protect family members from being pushed out at a loss.
- Fair Value Guarantee: The court orders an independent appraisal to establish true market value before any sale can proceed, preventing lowball outcomes.
- Buyout Opportunity: Co-tenants who do not want to sell get a first right of refusal to purchase the interest of the owner seeking partition, at the court-determined price.
- Open Market Sale: If no buyout occurs, the property must be listed on the open market through a licensed broker, not dumped at a courthouse auction.
Why Traditional Partition Actions Put Families at Risk
Before RPAPL § 993 existed, the standard partition process under RPAPL §§ 901-992 was blunt. A co-owner filed for partition, the court appointed a referee, and the property was typically sold at a judicial auction. The problem is that judicial auctions attract bargain hunters, not buyers willing to pay fair value. It was not uncommon for homes worth $800,000 to sell for $500,000 or less at these proceedings.
Predatory investors exploited this system aggressively. They would target neighborhoods where families held inherited property without formal estate plans, purchase a small fractional interest from one heir for a few thousand dollars, and then file a partition action to force a sale of the entire home. The remaining family members, often without the resources to hire attorneys or bid competitively at auction, would lose generational wealth in a single court proceeding.
The 2024 amendments to the statute went further. The Heirs Property Protection and Deed Theft Prevention Act, enacted as part of the New York State budget, added restrictions on which parties can initiate partition actions and created new right-of-first-refusal protections when outside parties attempt to purchase a co-tenant’s interest. Deed theft was also reclassified as grand larceny under New York Penal Law.
The Settlement Conference Requirement
One of New York’s unique additions to the uniform act is a mandatory settlement conference. Within sixty days of filing for judicial intervention, the court must bring all parties together to discuss their rights and obligations regarding the property. This is not a formality. The conference is designed to encourage good-faith negotiation before the more expensive and adversarial stages of the process begin.
If a defendant fails to file an answer but does attend the settlement conference, they are excused from that procedural default and given thirty additional days to respond. This provision reflects the reality that many heirs in these disputes are not sophisticated litigators. They may not understand court timelines, but that should not cost them their inheritance.
When an Executor or Administrator Stands in the Way
In my experience, inherited property disputes often involve a layer of complexity that goes beyond co-owner disagreements. The property may still be titled in the name of a deceased family member, meaning it technically remains part of the estate. If the executor or administrator of that estate is uncooperative, whether through neglect, self-interest, or outright refusal to act, the RPAPL § 993 process can stall entirely.
When that happens, it becomes necessary to pursue parallel legal strategies. Filing a partition action in Supreme Court while simultaneously petitioning Surrogate’s Court to remove or compel the fiduciary under SCPA §§ 711 or 719 is an approach I regularly recommend.
- Fiduciary Accountability: Courts take seriously any executor who delays, wastes estate assets, or refuses to cooperate with a legitimate partition process.
- Dual-Track Strategy: Pursuing both Supreme Court and Surrogate’s Court actions simultaneously keeps pressure on uncooperative parties and prevents indefinite stalling.
- Resolution Timeline: While these cases can take months, a well-prepared petition with supporting evidence of fiduciary failure typically accelerates the process considerably.
Protecting Your Family’s Property Before It Is Too Late
RPAPL § 993 exists because the New York legislature recognized that inherited homes deserve more protection than the traditional partition framework provided. If you are dealing with co-owners who refuse to cooperate, an outside party who has purchased a fractional interest in your family’s property, or an estate fiduciary who will not act, this statute gives you a clear path forward.
The key is not to wait. Every month that passes without resolution is a month where the property loses value, carrying costs mount, and your legal position potentially weakens.
Contributed by Dan Rose, A Senior Local Business Guide Specializing in New York Estate Laws.
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