Partition

Partition

Many times, people find joint ownership of a property to be a beneficial arrangement—until they can no longer decide what to do with the property or no longer have an interest in ownership. In these cases, a partition may be in order.

What Is A Partition?

In real estate, a partition is a court-ordered division or sale of a property that occurs as a result of one or more property owners desiring to divide ownership of the property. A partition is sometimes referred to as a forced sale of property.

What Causes A Partition Action?

When a co-owner of a property no longer desires joint ownership, he or she has the right to request a partition action from the court. The court will then attempt to divide the property equally among the co-owners. In the case of land, each co-owner may be awarded a certain portion of the property. In the case of a home or other type of property that can’t be equally divided so easily, the court may decide to force a sale of the property and award the dividends of this sale to the co-owners in equal shares.

The Partition Process

The partition process begins with a formal complaint made by one of the co-owners of the property requesting a partition action. Once the complaint is filed, a notice is sent to the other co-owners of the property informing them of the pending court action. The partition action will remain pending until it goes to trial or until it is dropped by the complainant.

Once the matter is tried, the judge will determine the merits of the partition request. If granted, he or she will assign a referee to divide the property equally or sell it.

How to Choose a Lawyer for Partition Actions

A partition action can have long-term financial consequences, so when looking for a real estate lawyer to handle this matter, it’s important to do your due diligence. You’ll want to find an attorney with many years of experience practicing business and real estate law, preferably with partition actions in particular.

The professional real estate attorneys at Ensberg Law Group have numerous years of experience in this specific area of the law. We’ve dealt with a number of partition cases in West Covina, CA and the surrounding areas. It would be our pleasure to help you with your partition action as well. Call us today for a private legal consultation.