Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You can force a buy-out, or sale of the property and distribution of the proceeds, by filing an action for "partition." In old England a partition action was literally that: the property would be divided. In the modern US, partition is done by selling the property and partitioning the proceeds. Generally if it even gets to the point of filing a partition action instead of just the threat of one, the parties come to the table and work out a deal for one to buy the other out, or to sell the property without wasting time and money on court proceedings. I have handled a number of partitions in my career and would be happy to assist you in negotiating a pre-filing agreement, or in filing the action and then negotiating a settlement.

One strategy worth considering is to file a suit for "partition" of the house.

Partition is a legal action asking the court to order jointly-owned property divided between the owners, and each co-owner holds such a right, so long as the right hasn't been waived.

Traditionally, partition was accomplished by physical division of the property into two or more new parcels, with each co-owner getting sole title to one of the pieces. This may have worked pretty well in the 19th Century, when we had a agrarian society and few limitations on the subdivision of land. Nowadays, even though the legal action is still called "partition," it is usually accomplished by a court-ordered sale of the land and division of the net monetary proceeds of sale.

The court ordering a partition will also supervise it to the extent necessary, and will take evidence on the parties' relative contributions to payments, taxes, insurance, necessary repairs, and the like, adjusting the amount each receives accordingly.

By agreement between the parties, a partition can be accomplished by sale to one of the co-owners at appraised value of the interest acquired. Also, a sale of the property to a third party can be done either by a court-appointed referee or, upon agreement of the parties, by a real estate company using conventional listing and sales techniques.

Finally, in a high percentage of cases (including those such as yours), the mere filing of a partition suit will cause the reluctant or unrealistic co-owner to come to his senses and negotiate a fair out-of-court settlement.

If you are interested in a further no-cost evaluation of your options, please feel free to contact me directly with particulars.