estate willed to 2 parties,family dispute

my husbands mother and uncle inherited an estate(new york) from their father a number of years ago. my husband has leased this property for 10 years with the understanding that it would be sold to us eventually. our lease is up, yet we still continue the upkeep and taxes on this property(part of the lease agreement). the problem is this: 1)siblings and cousins now want to split up the farm, 2) mother and uncle are getting sickly. question is, what happens to the farm if either one of the owners die? also, do we have any legal right to prevent this farm from being split up like the other siblings want?

I gather the property now is legally owned by your mother-in-law and her brother, the uncle, outright. You guys seem to be tenants of mother-in-law and uncle under a 10 year lease. There was also some sort of vague agreement about you being able to buy it.

Now uncle and mother are thinking about selling it, or you are afraid the uncle's kids, or mother-in-laws other kids, in the veent of death, would want their share. And let's face it, if you were one of the other kids you would want your share too.

There are a few things that can be done. You can make an offer to buy it, perhaps giving the mother-in-law and uncle a partial mortgage. You can enter into a new lease to rent it. You can get an OPTION to buy it at a certain price, either alone or as part of the lease.

If someone were to die, the interest in the property would be the estate of the deceased's. The estate could seek to partition the property. If there was a lease, then half the rent would go to the heirs of the uncle, and half to the heirs of the mother-in-law, including your husband.

SEPT. 4, 2001

DEAR SCHILSON:

The siblings opinion doesn't really have much weight now.

Have your husband's mother and uncle made out their wills so their wishes about this property will be handled properly? Have you all asked them what they want to do about this property?

It might be better if there was only one official owner of the property--does anyone in the family want to buy it from them or would either party sell to the other or would they sell to an interested party who is not in the family or would they prefer to keep this property in the family?

SINCERELY,

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