Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

California law, as well as the laws of other states, has a procedure for resolving unhappy co-ownerships of property. It's called a partition lawsuit. The name "partition" comes from older times when most properties were rural and could be split between co-owners (such as heirs) by the court simply drawing a new parcel map with a line down the middle "partitioning" the property between Owner X and Owner Y. Nowadays, we have heavily-developed urban property, zoning laws, etc., so the older method of splitting the property itself is seldom used. However, the modern partition statutes provide that the courts can order the co-owned property to be sold, and the net proceeds of sale "partitioned" (divided) between the former co-owners. The court will hold hearings to determine what split of the proceeds is fairest......if there were two equal co-owners, that doesn't mean the net sale proceeds will be divided 50-50. The court will also consider which co-owner(s) contributed disproportionately to necessary expenses such as mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, certain necessary repairs, and so forth; and also, who benefitted from rentals received from third-party non-owner tenants. Now, having said all this, I should point out that very few partition lawsuits go all the way through the court process. Very often, once Owner X files suit, Owner Y wakes up and smells the coffee, and agrees to an out-of-court settlement, which may be that one co-owner buys out the other, or that all the owners agree to a private sale to a third party.