Cassia v. Cassia

Is a lis pendens properly filed against real property in a Surrogate’s Court proceeding under EPTL 5-1.1 (wherein a “disinherited wife” seeks a right to election against her deceased husband’s estate) where such real property will pass not by specific devise but in the residuary estate? Such question, by necessity, involves a determination under CPLR 6501 as to whether or not the judgment to be rendered in the Surrogate’s Court proceeding “would affect the title to, or the possession, use or enjoyment of, real property.”

James Cassia died on December 2, 1982, in the City of White Plains,…