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COTENANT ACQUIRED THE OTHER COTENANT’S INTEREST BY ADVERSE POSSESSION.

The Second Department determined, under the law applicable at the time, a cotenant in possession (Midgley, Jr.) acquired full title to the property (i.e., acquired the cotenant’s interest) by adverse possession:

Midgley, Sr., left his estate, in equal parts, to Midgley, Jr., and a man named Robert E. Sayre, Sr. (hereinafter Sayre, Sr.). Midgley, Jr., claimed that, in 1971, Sayre, Sr., refused to participate in the operation or maintenance of the property and that Midgley, Jr., exclusively possessed and operated the property from that point forward. Midgley, Jr., paid the real estate taxes on the property and leased the property to various farmers and a nursery. All rents from these tenants were paid to Midgley, Jr. Midgley, Jr., farmed the property, growing rye, during the years that he could not find a suitable tenant. Sayre, Sr., died in 2005. In 2009, Midgley, Jr., commenced this action, alleging that he had become the sole lawful owner of the property by adverse possession and, therefore, was entitled to a judgment barring any claim to the property by, among others, the heirs of Sayre, Sr.

Under the law existing at the time title allegedly vested here, in the absence of an overt acknowledgment during the statutory period that ownership rested with another party, actual knowledge of the true owner, or co-owner as is the case here, did not destroy the element of claim of right … . “Where . . . the party claiming adverse possession is a tenant-in-common in exclusive possession, the statutory period required by RPAPL 541 is 20 years of continuous exclusive possession before a cotenant may acquire full title by adverse possession” … . Midgley v Phillips, 2016 NY Slip Op 06688, 2nd Dept 10-12-16

REAL PROPERTY (COTENANT ACQUIRED THE OTHER COTENANT’S INTEREST BY ADVERSE POSSESSION)/ADVERSE POSSESSION (COTENANT ACQUIRED THE OTHER COTENANT’S INTEREST BY ADVERSE POSSESSION)/TENANTS IN COMMON (COTENANT ACQUIRED THE OTHER COTENANT’S INTEREST BY ADVERSE POSSESSION)

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