§ 901. By whom maintainable. 1. A person holding and in possession of real property as joint tenant or tenant in common, in which he has an estate of inheritance, or for life, or for years, may maintain an action for the partition of the property, and for a sale if it appears that a partition cannot be made without great prejudice to the owners.

2. A person holding a future estate as defined in sections forty, forty-a or forty-b of the real property law or a reversion as joint tenant or tenant in common may maintain an action for the partition of the real property to which it attaches, according to his respective share, subject to the interest of the person holding the particular estate, but no sale of the premises in such an action shall be made except with the consent in writing, to be acknowledged or proved and certified in like manner as a deed to be recorded, of the person owning and holding such particular estate. If partition or sale cannot be made without great prejudice to the owners, the complaint shall be dismissed; dismissal shall not affect the right of any party to bring a new action after the determination of such particular estate.

3. A person entitled as a joint tenant or a tenant in common by reason of his being an heir of a person who died holding and in possession of real property, may maintain an action for partition, whether he is in or out of possession, notwithstanding an apparent devise to another by the decedent, and possession under such a devise. The plaintiff shall establish that the apparent devise is void.

4. In the event the estate of a decedent is the owner of an estate in common in real property, the executor or administrator may bring a partition action or intervene in a pending partition action on behalf of the estate if, upon application duly made, the surrogate approves.