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...and ask him to exert a bit more pressure on her NZ lawyer to be a bit more communicative as it's patently unfair to you.
Sorry Lefty no disrespect but I love this. Just what do you expect the OP's lawyer to do? Pop around to the other lawyer and bang on his desk??
Lawyers act for their clients - not the other party. Its actually quite fun to represent a brick wall because of all the pleading and threatening coming from the other lawyer, knowing they are getting increasingly frustrated. I recall receiving a lengthy letter once to which I very politely replied "No.". At least the other lawyer laughed knowing he had a hopeless position but sometimes its red rags and bulls and complaints to the Law Society, Fair Go, Campbell Live etc etc. Gotta relieve the stress somehow.
I've been wracking my brains to remember anything helpful. In 30 years in the law I can't remember having to deal with this exact situation. Deceased registered proprietors on titles, yes. Abandoned titles yes. Mortgagees who refuse to discharge the mortgage, yes. Vitriolic disputes between joint property owners, yes. Matrimonial property claims complicated by parents or family members also on the title, yes.
But a living (absent) tenant-in-common owner who refuses to respond, that's a new one.
Ivan makes the excellent point that if this lady is so dis-engaged, she is unlikely to waste her money on defending court proceedings in NZ, particularly if she will receive her correct share of the property. Running an undefended application for sale should be quite easy.
I'm here trying to get better informed on the whole process so when we do start paying the lawyers we're not overwhelmed just trying to understand the jargon - we want to do some research on our own first so we're not going into it blind.
You are doing the right thing in finding out what you can before consulting a lawyer. That is always a good idea. Your specific problem however is rare and not easy to answer. I doubt you'll find much on the internet or in a library because the answers lie in a specialised knowledge of property law. That knowledge requires access to caselaw which the public cannot search, but its difficult stuff to make sense of anyway.
Furthermore, as Ivan says, you also need a lawyer who understands civil High Court proceedings which is where the barrister comes in.
By all means discover what you can but your time is better spent putting together the series of facts and events which lead to today's problem. You can see from the above comments that your original question left out important details so make sure you include those.
Incidentally the emotional stuff about your sister-in-law is not important in law so you do not need to explain that in any detail. Its enough to know the family relationship has broken down, she refuses contact, and she won't be cooperative. You will need her address if at all possible.
You're right, of course, Winston, but I guess the fact that some lawyers have tried it on with you means that it's not a totally absurd idea. It's not so much the banging on the desk that I had in mind. Basically a letter spelling out her position and the fact that despite their best intentions and attempts, no replies are forthcoming from the person that only seems to be willing to deal thru you (this other woman's lawyer), and in appealing to their better side, acknowledging that the family would rather she was involved in a dialogue for everyone's best outcome than going thru the courts to force a legal sale owing to his client's lack of communication. It'd be up to the lawyer at that stage whether he wanted to add any veiled threats about costs or missing-out - I don't know - whatever the negative outcomes for the 3rd-party women could be, legally speaking.
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