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PaperclipPerfector
1d ago
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Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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Notes -
Mildly entertaining exercise: Rendition of a random UN Security Council resolution into HTML, with dozens of bullet points added in order to improve intelligibility
Interesting Gallup article on "span of control" (the number of subordinates per manager)
There is no information on the number of managers per subordinate.
There has recently been some discussion of partition actions: a property is owned in common by several people, but one of the owners wants to sell his share. One of this website's illustrious lawyer denizens has mentioned how he (1) hates division of property between heirs because it results in huge complications over time, and therefore (2) prefers primogeniture. Do you have any opinions or experiences on this topic?
In the 1970s, my grandfather in the US Virgin Islands (a wretched hive of scum, villainy, and hurricanes) died young. After a probate process that for some reason took eight years (I am in possession of the "final adjudication and decree of distribution" but none of the other court documents, so I don't know the details), his house was split between his heirs—1/3 to his wife (my grandmother), and 1/9 to each of his six children (two by a previous wife and four (including my mother) by my grandmother). As the decades rolled by, all of these seven heirs ceased living in the property. Ironically, at present the property's only inhabitant is a non-heir—the son of my grandmother by a previous husband. He is a layabout and has allowed the property (assessed at market value of 95 k$; Zillow does not produce Zestimates in this backwater) to fall into disrepair.
I am hoping that, after my grandmother dies, I will be able to convince my mother to start a partition action in order to convert her share of this albatross into cash. The USVI has enacted the Uniform Partition of Heirs' Property Act, so if my mother were to start a partition action her siblings (including the half-brother, since he would have finally become a part-owner) would have a chance to buy her out before any forced sale of the entire property. But she expects that they would be either uninterested in, or incapable of, buying her out. Also, there is a possible complication: My grandfather's two children by his first wife (already adult and moved out when he died) allegedly gave their shares to my grandmother (out of charity—my grandfather had no life insurance, so his death threw my grandmother into poverty), but if this property transfer occurred it apparently was never officially recorded. I look forward to the hullabaloo.
To be clear, my endorsement of primogeniture was sarcastic, but anyway...
Any time you're contemplating a situation like this, you have to consider whether something is worth paying a large amount of money in hopes of getting a larger amount, or paying a small amount of money to be rid of the thing entirely, and this looks like one of the latter cases. I am not your lawyer, nor am I licensed in USVI, but I've done partitions before, and they are not a quick, easy process. What you describe is even more expensive because the division goes back 50 years and we don't even know what kind of title your grandfather had when he died. I know you seem pretty sure of who owns what, but 40 years is a long time, and you've already alluded to the possibility of an unrecorded transaction, which means that if I'm handling this the first thing I'm doing is a title search to make sure that I don't leave anyone out of the suit or misstate the interests, which could make things more expensive or even get the case dismissed. And that's before you can even file.
You're probably looking at a retainer somewhere in the 5k–10k range just to get a suit started, though since it's an heirs property you're probably looking at the higher end of that range. This is all out of pocket before you've recovered any money from the property. If someone, say the half-brother living in the house, decides to contest the partition, it could cost several times more than that. If your lawyer wants to take a deposition, that's a few grand right there. If the opponent's lawyer wants to depose your mother, they'll just send a notice telling her to appear at the Hampton Inn in Charlotte Amelie on October 9. Sure, you can get it rescheduled to be taken remotely, but you will still get billed for the rescheduling, and billed again for a copy of the transcript. The key thing here is that the distribution of the proceeds isn't a straight "1/6 ownership gets 1/6 the money", but an equitable distribution. What's equitable? The court will appoint a master to decide. He will charge for this service.
Realistically, if nothing else, somebody has been paying property tax on this house, and that person is entitled to credit for the amount they paid. If the half-brother has done necessary repairs, he's entitled to credit for them. You can argue over what repairs are necessary. You can argue over whether he has sufficient proof. You can argue over a lot of things. You will be charged for this service. And unless you can convince the brother to move out prior to listing the house, the market value is practically zero, since nobody is going to pay fair market value for a property that requires an ejectment action to get possession. There was some talk yesterday about how difficult evictions have become in some places, but trust me, they're a breeze compared to ejectments. Obstinate tenants can hold up evictions, sure, but the process is designed to be streamlined, and a diligent landlord can get the guy out within a couple months. The ejectment process is not streamlined and operates on the same schedule as any other lawsuit, meaning you need to hire a lawyer, conduct discovery, have pretrial conferences, etc. It's no 15 day notice then off to the magistrate.
At this point you may be thinking "That's not going to happen. My family gets along, and the half-brother has no case and no money to fight it, and he'll leave well in advance of the judgment if the house is sold." To which I say "Great! You don't need to file a partition!" If you were to come to my office with your situation I'd tell you that for a small fraction of the cost of a partition I could draw up a sale agreement and if you could get everyone to sign it we'd list the property. The buyer can worry about the title. And if you can't get everyone to agree on that, then you can be assured that a partition is going to be a long, expensive endeavor for everyone involved. Based on the value of the property and the number of shares, a contested partition action is likely to cost your mother more money than she could expect to make from the sale. If I were in her shoes and those were the options I'd offer to convey my interest via quitclaim deed to anyone willing to pay for drafting and recording fees, and disclaim any interest from your grandmother's inheritance. It's much easier that way.
Sounds like @ToaKraka needs to consult with the Crusader Kings community, all of whom are domain experts in dealing with the problems arising from gavelkind/partition succession. I'm not saying he should plot the murder of his relatives so that they aren't in the way of his demesne consolidation... but I'm not saying he shouldn't do that, either.
Unfortunately, I am an Insightful Thinker, not an Elusive Shadow.
It's all right. You can hire a spymaster for that!
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