Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Real estate partnership dispute- partner won't sell.

You would have to force a sale through a lawsuit called a Partition action. It may, therefore, be worth paying him his % plus a bit if he will sign.

Re: Real estate partnership dispute- partner won't sell.

A partition action can be fiiled. I suggest a strong letter from an attorney first may result in some negotiations. A receiver can also be appointed, but that may be expensive. Please call me if you have any questions.

Re: Real estate partnership dispute- partner won't sell.

My analysis is a little different. Both the previous answers are based on the single remedy (partition) available for ordinary co-ownership situations. Partnership law provides additional tools for dealing with irreconcilable disputes between partners. If indeed this is a partnership, you should consider using the statutory tools available to a dissociating (withdrawing) partner instead of filing for partition.

Partition is available for partnerships and partnership property, but only if the court determines that it is a suitable remedy. See Code of Civil Procedure section 872.730. It usually will, but this statutory hurdle is another reason to prefer going ahead under the provisions of the Corporations Code that apply to general partnerships (the Revised Uniform Partnership Act of 1994, found at Corporations Code sections 16100 to about 16962). Start looking at the dissociation provisions at 16601.

Using partnership law requires, of course, that your co-ownership also be a partnership. Not all co-ownership is. If you acquired it for business purposes, expecting to make and share a profit, and treated your activity as a partnership, it probably is. It would help if you filed partnership tax returns and had a written partnership agreement, but neither is necessary. Partnerships arise when two or more persons act together to run an economic activity with the intention of sharing the profits in some way.

One of the advantages of dissociating is that the partnership, or the remaining partner, must then either buy you out at fair market value as of the date of dissociation, or wind up the business and share the net proceeds of liquidation. You might not even have to go to court - but you will need a lawyer well versed in partnership law and I would add that you need to review the overall economics of the situation including the net value of the partnership property and the direction it's headed.

In fairness, I'd have to add that filing a partition action might have some value in that it could force the partner to look at an out-of-court settlement more reasonably.

Re: Real estate partnership dispute- partner won't sell.

Move quickly and file a partition action/sissolution of partnership before its too late. Contact me directly.