Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I own a ranch with my partner, it is in a revocable trust. She now wants to buy me out of the property and I do not wish to move or sell. Can she force me to sell the property or can she sell it without my approval? We live in California as nonregistered domestic partners.
2 Answers from Attorneys
She can't sell it without your approval. She may or may not be able to revoke the trust without your approval. If you are both trustees of the trust and both beneficiaries, you have a pretty convoluted legal problem here, involving both trust law and partition of real property. You could spend a lot of money fighting each other on something like this. Have you considered mediation?
Unless you have an agreement otherwise, to force you to sell she'd have to file a partition action in court. It's expensive, and the fees and costs are taken from the proceeds, so it may be helpful to work out a deal outside of court. As the other attorney suggested, mediation with a professional mediator who has a background in real estate law.
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