Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I own a property (house and workshop) with my now son in law. I pay 50% of all expenses EXCEPT electricity and water as I do not use either. When the property was purchased he and my daughter we not married so title is held with me as unmarried man and him as a single man. The purchase price was 750,000 and my son in law put down about 165,000. Since the purchase of the property he and my daughter married and they took my son in and gave him a room. As of the past 4 months she has moved her boyfriend in and basically forced my son out and he is back living with me. I believe there is alcohol and drug abuse happening in the house. I would like to know my rights as far as what I can do about making my daughter and her boyfriend move out of the house that I pay half of the mortgage on. Can I evict them?

Asked on 10/26/09, 12:48 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

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I'm confused about the persons in this drama. A "boyfriend" seems to appear about halfway through your facts. Are you saying that your daughter has a boyfriend in addition to your son-in-law? Or have you just started referring to your co-owner son-in-law as a boyfriend?

In any event, the basic rule of law is that all co-owners have the right to possess the entire co-owned parcel. Therefore, you cannot evict your son-in-law, and you probably cannot evict anyone to whom he has given possession, such as his wife, nor probably their guests.

There is a possible exception if you have been "ousted" from co-possession, but I don't think it is applicable here, since you were never a co-owner in possession. However, you might want to look up and read Civil Code section 843 to see if it fits your facts. Probably not.

The standard remedy for an unhappy co-owner is a special kind of lawsuit called a partition action. This action asks a court to order the property sold, after which the net proceeds of sale are divided among the former co-owners in proportion to their interests and after adjustments for excess costs borne by a party for mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc. Before undertaking a partition suit in today's real-estate market, a prospective plaintiff should look at the economics carefully!

Finally, if there is suspected criminal activity, I am a little rusty in that area of the law. I know that if the offenders were your tenants, you would have a right to evict, but these are not tenants of yours. If there are situations that might affect public health or safety, you might contact the district attorney or the police for advice.

Answered on 10/31/09, 12:26 pm

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