Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

If they will not buy you out, you can force a sale by filing, in court, a partition action.

Yes, a partition action is available to you. I've filed one of them before. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.

The answers you have been given are correct. In old times when property was generally held in large parcels, if two or more people owned a parcel, one of them could file an action asking the court to divide it fairly and the court would create new parcels and assign them to each owner. This was called a partition action. With modern land use, zoning, planning and subdivision law, the courts no longer do it that way. Instead, they order a sheriff's sale, just as if the property was being foreclosed on, and the proceeds are divided. If any of the parties contend they are entitled for reimbursement for improvements or other expenses, those claims are also decided by the court before making the distribution. As you can imagine, a sheriff's sale brings far less than a normal broker-listed sale, and court proceedings can get very expensive. So almost invariably when a partition action is filed, the owners either agree on a buy-out or they list the property for sale by agreement. Then they either settle any reimbursement claims, or reserve those for the court to decide after the sale. I have handled a number of partition actions in my career, and would be happy to discuss your options further. If you are interested in that, let me know and I will schedule a consultation in my San Francisco offices.