Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: partition & sale form ?

Partition of real estate is not done by filling out and filing a form. A "partition action" is a kind of lawsuit that is available for people like yourself who find themselves in an unhappy co-ownership situation. As a practical matter, you will need to retain a lawyer, who will write up. file and serve the lawsuit, usually consisting of a summons (one page), complaint (typically, four to twenty pages plus one or more exhibits), and a notice of pendency of action (lis pendens) (usually two pages).

The suit is filed with the court in the county where the property is, and then served on everyone with an interest in the property - co-owners, lenders, etc. The lis pendens is recorded with the county recorder. A self-represented person in theory can prepare and file the suit, but someone other than a party must perform the service of process, and a self-represented person cannot sign, file or record the lis pendens without a judge's prior approval.

A partition suit moves through several phases at court. First, there is a trial to adjudicate the plaintiff's right to partition, resulting in an interlocutory decree for partition. Then, the property is sold. The court will appoint a referee to handle this unless the co-owners agree to use of a particular listing broker and other details such as price. After the property is sold, the referee will recommend to the judge how the net proceeds of sale ought to be divided. Usually this is in proportion to ownership after adjustment for excess contributions to necessary expenses such as mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance and necessary repairs.

Often, however, the parties settle out-of-court well before the entire legal procedure runs its course, which can take over a year and cost thousands in legal fees for both owners. Since the result of a partition suit, like a divorce action, is pretty much inevitable, owners who were originally unwilling to sell will come to the bargaining table and negotiate either a buy-out or a private sale rather than go through the court process.

Nowadays, with so many recently-purchased properties having no net equity, there are fewer partitions being filed, and the parties more often just walk away from their financially under-water properties.

Re: partition & sale form ?

If by "bought", you mean you obligated yourself to a mortgage, then there is no magical form to fill out to get out of the obligation to pay. The mortgage company would have to agree to release you, and there is likely no way it would agree to do that, unless you could convince it to accept another borrower to agree to be obligated in your place.

If you and the boyfriend purchased together and are on title together, then you can force a sale of the property in a partition suit. But there needs to be sufficient equity in the property to pay off all liens and mortgages.