Reb…
“i remember once reading a Teshuva from Chasam Sofer ”
See Chasam Sofer on the side of Shu”A on the below link OC 151:5:
Ihttp://beta.hebrewbooks.org/tursa.aspx?a=oc_x525
Also see Pischei Teshuvah in Ch”M 162:7
http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/tursa.aspx?a=cm_x10380
Bottom line: As with all,.. its a Maclokas haPoskim what status a Muchzak seat in as shul will have, according to classic psak (Rosh etc) it will have a status as his assets to a degree that his children have legal rights to inherit as well, However, the nature of those shul statuses and minhagim have certainly changed over the years, so it will probably depend where and what…
However, in a town like CT is wherein the Shul is a “community” shul, he might have all rights described in Shulchan Aruch.