Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
My uncle passed away in 1983 and willed his 25% share in a property in Los Angeles to my aunt and her siblings. The other 75% is held by 3 other individuals each having 25% share. My aunt is the administer to the estate. For the past 22 - 23 years my aunt has not been able to locate one of the other 3 individuals to collect property tax. My aunt was able to get a hold of the of the wife of this individual but could not get any information on how to contact this individual and what they would like to do with the property.
My aunt and the 2 individuals who have been paying the property taxes would like to sell the property. Are they able to do this without the consent of the individual who have not been paying taxes and not reachable? If so, how should the proceeds be handled?
3 Answers from Attorneys
The missing person, Mr. X, is a part owner so the property can only be sold without his consent by an order of the court. You woud have to sue for partation [all three can use the same attorney as there appears to be no conflict in interest] to get an order to sell the property, with each person perhaps withdrawing the amount of expenses they have had with the property [so the other owner would jsut get back the purcjhase price X paid] ans then spliting the rest up equally among all four. The Court will have to decide what happens to the remaining 1/4--remains in trust for y years and then divided equally between .
If you can find the person's wife, the court is not going to allow you to proceed without him. Mr. Shers is correct that if the person will not respond to contact through his wife you will have to file a partition action to sell the property. At that point, you can subpoena the wife and force her to tell you anything she knows about the whereabouts of her husband. You then use that information to locate him and serve him with the lawsuit.
File a partition action and serve the missing owner via publication. Contact me directly. 20 years experience.
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