Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

If your brother will not voluntarily agree to sell or otherwise deal with this issue, your only option is to file an action for partition of the property. In such an action you ask the court to determine each joint tenant's interest in the property, sell the property, and divide the proceeds in accordance with the findings of the court.

I agree with Mr. Hoffman. You should also be aware that if you die before the partition, holding title as Joint Tenants would mean he would get full title free and clear. I recommend you talk to a title attorney right away about deeding your 1/2 interest out of the Joint Tenancy.

A partition lawsuit is the basic exit strategy for an unhappy co-owner. You should also sever the joint tenanct by deeding your half interest as a joint tenant to yourself as a tenant in common. These thoughts were also contained in the previous answers.

Here are a couple of additional thoughts. Partitioning property can be a rather expensive and time-consuming legal affair. It is especially unpleasant if there is insufficient equity in the house to cover paying off the loan and paying a sales commission. However, when the court divides the net proceeds of sale at the end of the process, it can make adjustments to each party's share to reflect reimbursement to any ex-coowner who paid more than a fair share of the mortgage, taxes, insurance and necessary repairs. Your brother is entitled to live there without paying rent, and so are you, but if he receives any rent from third parties, he has to share the net rents with you.

Filing a partition suit doesn't always result in the whole process playing out in court, ending with a final judgment. Indeed, when the suit is served on the defendant, he may all of a sudden become much more interested in a voluntary solution. Many partition suits are settled out of court before final judgment by one party buying the other out, or an agreement to sell without court supervision. Somethimes the parties stipulate to sell the house and let an arbitrator decide the split of the net proceeds.

A final thought is that in addition to converting the joint tenancy into a tenancy in common, you might consider serving your brother with a "written demand for concurrent possession" under Civil Code section 843(b). This may not be appropriate in your circumstances, but if it is, it sets him up for various damage claims.