Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The brother that was kicked out is a co-tenant with the brother in possession. Both have equal rights to occupy the property, so the brother in possession has "ousted" his co-tenant. There really is no "legal action" he "can take to be allowed back into his home" because the brother in possession is entitled to possession. However, the ousted brother can file a partition action to have the court determine the percentage each brother owns, force a sale, and divide the proceeds of sale, after deduction for the expenses of sale (including referee's fees) to the parties in proportion to their ownership interest.

I generally agree with Mr. Hoffman's answer. However, there is an interim step short of suit for partition that might be worth considering and deserves mention. California's Civil Code has a specific provision for an ousted cotenant to claim and assert his rights. Look up and review, or have the uncle review, Section 843, captioned "Concurrent ownership; ouster; procedure; damages" and decide whether this is preferable to going for partition now, especially in view of the depressed state of the housing market and the likelihood the market will be a lot better in a couple years.

Also, if the co-ownership is as "joint tenants," the ousted uncle might want to convert the co-ownership to "tenants in common" so he can control who will inherit his half interest instead of having it pass to the co-owner by operation of law. Whether this is a good idea may depend upon their relative ages and health.

I do this kind of legal work fairly regularly and the zip code shown is not too far away; please feel free to contact me directly for more discussions or a proposal for representation.