Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You need to file a Partiton Action lawsuit.

Mr. Selik is correct, but a little more explanation should be helpful.

First, a partition action is a very specialized kind of lawsuit, carefully set up in some detail in the California Code of Civil Procedure. It is designed to give unhappy co-owners an exit strategy, and gets its name because in the early days, property (usually a farm) was divided between the co-owners by a judge-ordered subdivision. Nowadays, this is impractical in 98% of situations, due to subdivision laws and the impracticality of splitting a house on a small lot between two former owners. So, as a consequence, most partition actions request "partition by sale," where the court orders the property sold and the net proceeds (after paying off loans, taxes and liens) divided between the former owners on a basis that reflects percentage ownership adjusted for excess outlays one or the other has made for items such as loan payments, property taxes, insurance, and necessary repairs.

Most partition actions are settled out of court, usually long before the legal process advances very far, when the defendant realizes the inevitable result. The only defense to a partition action is "waiver," meaning, essentially, that the parties have expressly or by legal implication agreed not to seek partition. Therefore, the defendant has some motivation to settle rather than endure the costs of defending. Occasionally, the parties will choose to submit some issues to binding arbitration as a part of their out-of-court settlement.

Now, as to the percentage ownership. You and your former girlfriend may hold title as equal co-owners, usually as tenants in common. However, there is a chance that the 50-50 ownership "of record" might be adjusted by the court under a theory called "purchase-money resulting trust" which reapportions legal ownership according to an equitable principle that says ownership should follow contribution to the down-payment, unless one co-owner can be shown to have intended a gift to the other. So, if you paid 80% of the down-payment, but only got 50% ownership on the official record, the court might award you 80% if the proper argument is timely made ....... and vice-versa (the girlfriend could argue for more ownership if she paid more of the down-payment).

Finally, people often want to know what a partition action will cost to prepare, file and prosecute. This is like asking "How long is a piece of string?" It can be from a couple thousand to way into the tens of thousands, depending upon the parties' tenacity and reluctance to cooperate. However, it is a clear-cut exit strategy for a co-owner. Either the house gets sold to a third party, or one or the other of the co-owners buys out the other.

You have a right to a lawsuit to determine ownership interest, and force a sale. If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help fight and get the best outcome possible.