Newman v. Chase

Plaintiff, who purchased all of bankrupt husband's interest in home owned by husband and his wife as tenants by the entirety, brought action against husband and wife seeking partition of the estate for the joint life of the husband and wife. The Superior Court, Chancery Division, ordered partition, and while appeal of husband and wife was pending unheard in the Appellate Division, motion of husband and wife for direct certification was granted. The Supreme Court, Mountain, J., held that by purchasing husband's interest in home from trustee in bankruptcy, plaintiff obtained husband's interest as tenant in common for the joint lives of the husband and wife and interest husband would have come into if he survived his wife, that in view of equitable considerations, partition would not be granted, and that wife's conduct in excluding plaintiff from property amounted to an ouster, so that plaintiff was entitled to an accounting for one-half the imputed rental value of the house less expenses.

Reversed and remanded.