Evicting a Family Member in New York
Nassau County & Suffolk County, Long Island
There are a lot of reasons someone might need to remove a family member or close companion from a home.
- Maybe it’s an adult child who moved back and won’t leave.
- A sibling or in-law who’s overstayed their welcome.
- A former partner you’re no longer with.
- Or you’re the trustee of an estate and there’s a family member still living in a property that needs to be sold.
Whatever the situation, most of these cases can be handled right here in district court, in Nassau or Suffolk County. Faster and less expensive than most people expect.
Call us and we’ll tell you exactly where you stand. The consultation is free.
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Evicting a family member is a difficult process.
But we make it easier. Give us a call or text us for a free legal consultation, and learn about the process and your rights.
📞 (631) 888-6989Does Your Situation Require Eviction Court or Something Else?
This is the most important question to answer first, because the answer determines which court, which process, and how long it takes.
Here’s the short version. If the person you’re trying to remove moved into the home as an adult, whether recently or years ago, you can almost certainly have them removed through a regular eviction proceeding in district court. That’s what we handle.
If your adult child has lived in the family home their entire life, from childhood, and has never established a separate residence elsewhere, that’s a different type of legal proceeding. We’ll explain more about that below.
Not sure which situation you’re in? Call us. We’ll figure it out together on a free consultation call.
Situations We Handle:
An Adult Child Who Moved Back
If your son or daughter moved out at some point (went to college, lived with a partner, had their own apartment, worked somewhere else) and then moved back in as an adult, they’re most likely considered a licensee under New York law.
What matters is whether they established a separate life at some point and then returned. If they did, they can be removed through a holdover proceeding in district court. As a licensee, they require only a 10-day notice before you can file. That’s true regardless of how long they’ve been back. The prior separate residence is what controls, not the length of the return stay.
If instead they’ve been paying some form of rent, the notice period is longer and depends on how long the tenancy has been in place: 30, 60, or 90 days depending on the circumstances. Either way, it’s still district court. We’ll tell you exactly which notice applies on your free consultation call.
A Sibling, In-Law, or Other Relative
A family member who moved into your home as an adult is typically treated as a licensee or month-to-month tenant, depending on the circumstances. That covers brothers, sisters, in-laws, cousins, nieces, and nephews. District court is the right venue, and the process follows the same path as any other holdover proceeding.
A Former Partner or Companion
If someone you were in a relationship with is living in your home without a lease and you want them to leave, they’re most likely a licensee. That means a 10-day notice followed by a holdover proceeding in district court.
There is one situation where eviction court is off the table. If you and your former partner have minor children in common who live in the home, neither of you can use the eviction courts to remove the other. New York courts will not allow a summary eviction proceeding to effectively hand one parent full-time custody by putting the other parent out of the house. A family court custody order needs to be in place first. If this is your situation, a family law attorney is the right call, not us.
If your former partner made mortgage payments on the property, that can also affect their legal status and is worth discussing. Call us and we’ll talk through it.
Otherwise, yes, we handle this regularly.
An Occupant Remaining After a Homeowner Dies
This is one of the most common situations we see, and one of the least talked about. A family member was living in a home. The homeowner passes away. Now a trustee, executor, or heir needs to sell the property or close out the estate. But the occupant won’t leave.
In most cases, this is a district court matter. Read more in the estate and trust section below.
TYPES OF EVICTION
PROCEEDINGS:
Estate and Trust Situations
When a homeowner dies and leaves a property with someone still living in it, the responsibility for dealing with that occupant typically falls to one person: the trustee or executor. This is a situation we handle regularly, and it’s more straightforward than most people assume.
If the House Was in a Trust
When a property is held in a living trust, the trustee steps into the role of property owner the moment the grantor dies. There’s no probate. No letters testamentary. No waiting on Surrogate’s Court. The trustee has immediate, automatic standing to begin the eviction process. That’s one of the core advantages of a properly structured living trust.
If you’re a trustee and there’s a family member sitting in the property, there is no legal reason to wait. You can call us the day after the grantor passes and we can get started.
Here’s what most trustees don’t realize: allowing an unauthorized occupant to remain in trust property is not just an inconvenience. When the terms of the trust require the property to be sold or distributed, a trustee who fails to act may be in breach of their fiduciary duty to the other beneficiaries. The longer the occupant stays, the more exposure the trustee creates for themselves.
In most cases, the occupant can be removed through a holdover proceeding in district court, not Supreme Court. That means faster, less complicated, and less expensive than most trustees expect when they first call us.
If the Homeowner Had a Will But No Trust
When there’s a will but no trust, the executor handles the estate. Before an executor can bring a proceeding to remove an occupant, they need their authority officially recognized. That means letters testamentary issued by the Surrogate’s Court first.
If you’re in this situation, call us early. There’s a timing component that catches executors off guard. Knowing about it in advance lets you plan around it instead of losing weeks after the letters are issued.
If There Was No Will
When someone dies without a will, an administrator is appointed to handle the estate. This is often a slower process, especially when there are multiple potential heirs or family disagreements. The occupant removal is typically still a district court matter, but the question of who has standing to bring the proceeding needs to be sorted first.
These situations are workable. They just require a conversation before we can map out the right steps.
Call Us Right Now 📲
Evicting a family member is a difficult process.
But we make it easier. Give us a call or text us for a free legal consultation, and learn about the process and your rights.
📞 (631) 888-6989What Does the Eviction Process Look Like?
Once we’ve confirmed your situation is a district court matter, the process follows three steps.
- We serve the occupant with the appropriate predicate notice. Depending on their legal status and how long they’ve been at the property, this ranges from a 10-day notice to a 90-day notice. We handle the drafting and service. You don’t deal with any of that.
- If they don’t leave during the notice period, we file a holdover petition in the district court for your county and schedule a court date.
- If the court rules in your favor, a warrant of eviction is issued and the county sheriff removes them from the property.
The full timeline from retention to removal is typically 60 to 120 days, depending on the notice period required and the county. Most cases resolve before they ever reach trial.
Learn more about the eviction process
and timelines
What If It's an Ejectment Case?
What's an Action in Ejectment?
If your adult child has lived in the family home their entire life, from childhood, and has never established a separate residence, an action in ejectment in New York State Supreme Court is the correct legal remedy, not a district court eviction proceeding.
We’ll tell you which situation applies on your free consultation call. If your case turns out to be an ejectment matter, we’ll point you in the right direction. We’re not going to let you go down the wrong path.
Note: We do not currently handle actions in ejectment, but that may change. Call us and we’ll make sure you know exactly what you’re dealing with and where to go.
Other FAQs about Evicting a Family Member
In most cases, yes. If they’ve lived elsewhere as an adult at any point and moved back, they can most likely be removed through a holdover proceeding in district court. If they’ve lived in the family home their entire life and have never established a separate residence, that’s an ejectment matter. That’s a different type of proceeding. Call us and we’ll tell you which one applies to your situation.
Yes. A sibling or in-law living in your home as an adult, without a lease, is typically a licensee. They can be removed through a holdover proceeding in district court after the appropriate notice is served.
In most situations, yes. If they have no lease and you don’t have minor children in common living in the home, they’re most likely a licensee and can be removed through a district court holdover proceeding. If you do have minor children in common, eviction court is not the right venue. A family court custody order needs to be in place first. Call us and we’ll walk through it.
Call us as early as possible. As trustee, you have immediate standing to act. No probate, no letters testamentary, no delay. In most cases the occupant can be removed through a district court holdover proceeding. The sooner you call, the sooner we can map out the timing and make sure it doesn’t hold up the sale or distribution of the estate.
This comes up constantly. Family members and former companions sometimes say they can’t be removed because they have squatters rights. In almost every case on Long Island involving someone who was permitted to be at the property, even informally, this is not accurate. They’re a licensee, not a squatter. A 10-day notice and a holdover proceeding is the correct path.
If they’ve been making rent payments, the notice period before filing is longer and depends on how long the tenancy has been in place: 30 days if less than one year, 60 days if between one and two years, 90 days if two years or more. The process is still district court. It just takes a bit longer to start. We’ll confirm which applies to your situation on your free call.
From retention to removal, most family member holdover cases resolve in 60 to 120 days. The main variable is the notice period required before we can file, which depends on the type of occupancy. We’ll give you a realistic timeline specific to your situation on your free consultation call.
We charge one flat fee that covers everything from the predicate notice through trial. No surprise charges, no per-appearance billing. The process server fee is a separate pass-through cost of approximately $85.
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