Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arizona

You can file a law suit for "partition," a legal action to separate the joint owners of the property.

It may be best if you offer to purchase his interest. Abandonment of occupancy of the house does not release him from the obligation to pay the costs and expenses of ownership, however, you should take action as quickly as possible to resolve the issues and give you 100% ownership of the house.

Well he has a legal right to keep his things in the house... he has an obligation to pay the mortgage, association dues and any utilities which he has signed up for... the only way you are going to fix this problem is to file a Complaint in the Civil Court to either force a special master to sell the house and divide the equity or debt or get the court to split the title to the house so that only one person is on title. You should continue to pay the mortgage even if the house is upside down. Sometimes when you file a complaint, the parties can settle their differences and work out a way to equitably fix things so that only one person remains on title.

Generally these are complicated cases and you probably should not try to file a Partition action without an attorney. If you are interested in working this probably, call Stephanie Coulter of this office at 602 462 1004 and make arrangements to come in and meet with us or discuss this with us by telephone...