Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

1. You find somebody who wants to buy your half-interest.

2. You get your co-owner to agree to sell, and you find a buyer for the whole house.

3. You petition the court for a "partition" and the court will then auction off the house and divide the money between the co-owners, minus liens, attorney fees, and auction expenses.

I agree with Mr. Stone, but maybe some explanation would be helpful.

1. As to finding a buyer for a half interest, the prime prospect has got to be the owner of the other half interest. The other owner is the one most likely, by far, to be motivated to buy. There is little to no market for half interests in non-income-producing property.

2. If you find a buyer for a half interest, use an escrow or title company to prepare the papers. If there is a loan on the property, it may have to be paid off or other arrangements made with the lender, so don't neglect this aspect when shopping for a buyer.

3. A partition action is a special kind of lawsuit, fully described from a procedural standpoint in the Code of Civil Procedure. The court will order the sale of the property - maybe by auction, but a lot of times the court will order the property listed with a broker at a fixed or broker-selected price. Many partition suits end up with the co-owning parties making an out-of-court settlement where one buys out the other or they agree to a "normal" sale without court involvement.

4. If the need to sell the half interest arises out of a divorce, maybe the divorce court can produce some kind of solution by court order.