Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Scenario: House is primary resident of my parents since 1986. The house was under my parents and sister1's name initially. in 2002, sister2 was added as joint tenant so 4 people owned house as joint tenancy. In 2014, my parents broke the joint tenancy by creating a Living Trust, and recorded Grant Deed to the Trust, for which I am the successor Trustee. In Jun 2016, my daughter moved at my parents house to help take care of them. My parents died Sept, and Dec 2016 leaving me as the only Trustee. Sister1 decided on her own that she should be the one making decisions on the house. She changed the lock of the house as of Feb 16 2016 and broke the lock at the room where my daughter is staying off and on (she moved out Feb1, but I asked her to house-sit the house until it is sold, since it is vacant. What action can I take against sister1 for changing the lock and forcing the lock on my daughter's room, just moving her bed and small refrigerator outside the house) ?
1 Answer from Attorneys
There is a weird feature of the law, a remnant of very old times, that says that when more than one person owns property, they are each entitled to use and occupancy of the property as if they were sole owners. As you can imagine, that makes a real mess of things when co-owners conflict, as you and your sister are. It also leaves no clear remedy other than suing for an injunction against her interfering with your use and occupancy. Ultimately the only solution is either to sell the property or buy out the problem sister. That can be done by agreement, or forced by filing what is called a Partition action, in which the court takes control of the property and orders it sold at auction, with the proceeds distributed to the owners. As you may imagine, partition is a very bad way to settle this kind of dispute, and pretty much is only used to bring a recalcitrant co-owner to the negotiating table.
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