Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I have a question concerning my sister who is in a domestic partnership in California. My sister bought a house and put her partner on the deed after the promise that she would pay her half of the mortgage, however the loan is in my sisters name. In 16 years she has paid absolutely nothing other than a few electric bills here and there. She wants her out of the house but she will not leave and refuses to pay her half. At one point my sister got a job transfer to Seattle and at that point was wanting to dissolve the partnership. After being there a year her partner was still not paying the mortgage on the property in which she stayed in. My sister was having to pay her rent in Seattle plus the mortgage. She eventually moved back to California to try and get things in order. The partner wants nothing more then to leave the property to her children. My sister has put out approximately $500,000 on this property and she is at a standstill. She found out that her partner has had her previous partners evicted from their own homes. How is that possible Is there ANYTHING that she can do to ger her partner out of the house short of going to Supreme Court to dissolve the partnership She has stopped paying the mortgage and was going to allow the house to go into short sale but the partner will not sign off as she is on the deed. Any info would be truly appreciated.
Thank you,
Michael A Voight
2 Answers from Attorneys
She does not have to dissolve the partnership and in fact that will not solve the property problem just by dissolving the domestic partnership. Whether in a domestic partnership dissolution proceeding, or in a partition action, or a traditional lawsuit, however, your sister will just continue digging herself deeper into this hole until she hires a lawyer and takes legal action. She is going to need a lawyer who understands Family Law and has a strong background in real estate law. I am one of a relatively small number of lawyers in the state who come from a real estate litigation background and now do Family Law. If she is in the Bay Area or Sacramento, I would be happy to consult with her about her options.
Yes, indeed; the law provides a remedy for people in this position (unhappy co-owners of property). It is a special kind of lawsuit called a "partition", as provided for in California Code of Civil Procedure sections 872.010 et seq. Partition would be the proper avenue to pursue unless the couple are "registered domestic partners" under California's Family Code, section 297 et seq.
The name comes from older times when most folks lived on farms and zoning laws were rare, and the law allowed co-owned property to be divided by lot-splitting or "partitioning" the parcel. This method of partition is still used occasionally, but more often it is done as a "partition by sale" in which the property is sold under court order and the net proceeds of sale are divided equitably among the former co-owners. In your sister's case, she would probably receive 100%, or close to it, of the net proceeds (after paying off the loan, commissions and other costs).
Property of "spouses" is not subject to partition, see CCP 872.210(b). I have looked at the relative handful of cases on whether domestic partners are considered spouses so that they may not partition their property. The cases do not decide the question, but rather leave open the possibility that partition is permissible, unless the parties have registered as domestic partners as provided in Family Code sections 297 to 299.6, in which case I'd believe that partition is not possible because FC 297.5(a) extends laws pertaining to spouses to registered domestic partners.
If the co-owners are registered dometic partners, one of them must file a petition for dissolution of domestic partnership with the Superior Court in the county of residence, which will be treated similarly to a dissolution of marriage petition, and the couple's property will be divided by the court under California's marital community-property laws and concepts. This is far short of going to the Supreme Court and is an everyday kind of proceeding -- maybe time-consuming if contested, but a lot cheaper than losing the money invested in the home.
By the way, there is a portion of the partition law that provides for a modified procedure, if the parties agree, where one co-owner can buy out the other at an appraised value of the other's net interest (Partition by Appraisal, CCP 873.910 - 873.980).
Please feel free to have your sister contact me for further information and/or a free consultation.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
