Page 14 - NY Cooperator November 2019

14 THE COOPERATOR — NOVEMBER 2019 COOPERATOR.COM Since 1958, out clients have been assured of excellence in building management. We assist our Boards in developing practical building policies. We can help you di erentiate between what can be done and spinning your wheels. We know what makes a building work. At Buchbinder & Warren, we understand your apartment is not just an investment...it’s a home. Please call us to learn more about our services. One Union Square West • New York, NY 10003 212.243.6722 SENSIBLE www.buchbinderwarren.com MANAGEMENT Inheriting Co-op Shares Legal and Procedural Considerations BY A J SIDRANSKY Say you and your spouse own a single- family home. You’ve got two grown kids to your questions. The lease is not relevant and a couple of grandchildren. When where the transfer is by operation of law – the time comes, assuming your will and that is, where one of two joint tenants or other end-of-life documents are in order, tenants by the entirety dies and the sur- seeing to it that your property and assets vivor takes all. But the lease will typically are passed along as you wish is a fairly have a provision dealing with transfers on straightforward process – a home is real death. The lease may provide that a trans- property, after all, and laws of succes- sion were practically invented to assure consent, or it may provide that the board the transference of such property to one’s ‘will not unreasonably withhold consent heirs without a lot of hassle. But co-ops are different; co-ops are leases will not deal with the spouse sepa- not owned outright the way single-family rately, but provide that the board ‘will homes or condo units are. Living in a co- op means that you’re a shareholder, not transfer to a financially responsible mem- a property owner, and that the monthly ber of the family,’ \[though\] sometimes it maintenance dues you pay to your coop- erative corporation entitle you to occupy one of the units in your building. But that New York City-based law firm Robinson being said, can one leave a co-op apart- ment to one’s heirs? Can one inherit co- op apartment shares? The short answer is of the proprietary lease. Does the pro- yes – shares in any corporation are inher- itable. But overall, inheriting those shares usual requirement that the co-op board may be a bit more complicated than it approve all transfers for cases involving looks at first glance. The complications, inheritance from a deceased shareholder? if any, usually lie in the proprietary lease. First, Look to the Lease Phyllis Weisberg, a partner with Man- hattan-based law firm Armstrong Teas- dale explains; “In most cases, a review of Simpson, “then a person seeking to in- the proprietary lease will provide answers fer to a spouse does not require \[board\] to a financially responsible spouse.’ Some not unreasonably withhold consent to a is limited to immediate family.” Philip T. Simpson is an attorney with Leinwand Genovese and Gluck. “The issue usually turns first on the language prietary lease make an exception to the Some proprietary leases make an excep- tion; others do not.” About Those Exceptions... “If there is no exception,” continues www.weathertightroof.com New York’s Serving The Whole State of New York. Call your local representative today!