PROPERTY OWNED AS TENANTS BY THE ENTIRETY PASSES FREE AND CLEAR TO THE SURVIVING SPOUSE, PURCHASE FROM THE SURVIVING SPOUSE PROVIDES CLEAR TITLE, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT SUMMARY JUDGMENT.

The Second Department determined plaintiffs had received title to real property free of any encumbrances. Plaintiffs had purchased the property from Edwin Ramsey. Ramsey and his wife. Bertha, had owned the property as tenants by the entirety. Upon the death of Bertha, Edwin owned the property free and clear. Defendant’s argument that the Ramsey’s had agreed to hold separate interests in the property was based upon hearsay, which, standing alone, will not defeat a summary judgment motion:

A disposition of real property to a husband and wife creates in them a tenancy by the entirety, unless expressly declared to be a joint tenancy or a tenancy in common” (EPTL 6-2.2[b]…). “[A] surviving tenant in a tenancy by the entirety receives the fee interest in its entirety, free and clear of any debts, claims, liens or other encumbrances as against the deceased spouse” … . Here, the plaintiffs demonstrated, prima facie, that they were entitled to summary judgment. Their evidence, including Edwin and Bertha’s 1968 marriage certificate and the 1972 deed, showed that Edwin and Bertha had a tenancy by the entirety in the property, as they were married at the time of the 1972 deed conveying the property to them and the deed did not “expressly declare[ ] [there] to be a joint tenancy or a tenancy in common” (EPTL 6-2.2[b]). Thus, when Bertha died in 2012, Edwin, as the surviving spouse, “receive[d] the fee interest in its entirety, free and clear of any debts, claims, liens or other encumbrances as against” Bertha … . Edwin was thereafter free to convey the property to the plaintiffs, which he did. Cormack v Burks, 2017 NY Slip Op 04252, 2nd Dept 5-31-17

TRUSTS AND ESTATES (PROPERTY OWNED AS TENANTS BY THE ENTIRETY PASSES FREE AND CLEAR TO THE SURVIVING SPOUSE, PURCHASE FROM THE SURVIVING SPOUSE PROVIDES CLEAR TITLE, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT SUMMARY JUDGMENT)/REAL PROPERTY (TENANTS BY THE ENTIRETY, PROPERTY OWNED AS TENANTS BY THE ENTIRETY PASSES FREE AND CLEAR TO THE SURVIVING SPOUSE, PURCHASE FROM THE SURVIVING SPOUSE PROVIDES CLEAR TITLE, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT SUMMARY JUDGMENT)/TENANTS BY THE ENTIRETY (TRUSTS AND ESTATES, PROPERTY OWNED AS TENANTS BY THE ENTIRETY PASSES FREE AND CLEAR TO THE SURVIVING SPOUSE, PURCHASE FROM THE SURVIVING SPOUSE PROVIDES CLEAR TITLE, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT SUMMARY JUDGMENT)/CIVIL PROCEDURE (SUMMARY JUDGMENT, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT A SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION)/EVIDENCE (SUMMARY JUDGMENT, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT A SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION)/HEARSAY (SUMMARY JUDGMENT, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT A SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION)/EVIDENCE (HEARSAY, SUMMARY JUDGMENT, HEARSAY ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT A SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION)