Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Unfortunately, unless she wants to hire a lawyer and force a sale of the property with the proceeds split, there is not really much she can do legally.

Assuming tiltle is equally in both of them, she has an equal right to use the house. She has to stand up for her rights; so does her husband. First announce that the utilities will be paid by dividing the total bills by the number of people in the house; you will only pay 2/X of the bill and if the utilities get shut off that wil be because of them. You also demand payment of their share of the bills that you had already paid. You are entilted to 2 o fthe 4 bedrooms [get adjacent ones]. If neither one is willing to stand up,then e-mail the new rules to everyone and post it in several obvious places in the house. The boyfriend's family, which is not paying rent, is not entitled to live there and must move or the police will be called. If they refuse, invite 5-6 other people to stay there for a week or two so the aunt and her people will complain of the crowding.

It is difficult to push someone around when they stand up for their rights.

I agree with Mr. McCormick. Mr. Shers' version of the law applicable to co-owned property is not accurate and his practical advice may be easier to give than to carry out.

The basic legal concept in co-ownership is that the right of possession is equal at all times and applies to every square inch of the property. However, this right of shared possession is subject to two significant limitations. First, the co-owners can modify their rights by contract. Second, a co-owner out of possession cannot enforce his or her right of possession by self-help, especially when that might result in a "breach of the peace."

There is a procedure in the Civil Code for handling regaining of lost possessory rights. Being kicked out or denied co-possession is called an "ouster" and the cure procedure is set forth in Section 843. I realize your friend has not been ousted yet, but it looks like the aunt is pushing in that direction by making life miserable for your friend.

I disagree with the view that a co-owner cannot have guests, or that the police would or could remove them. However, if the non-owners do pay rent, you are entitled to half of it.

It seems to me that the forced sale procedure mentioned by Mr. McCormick is the way to go here. He refers to a special kind of lawsuit, called a partition action, created just for situations involving unhappy co-owners such as here. In a partition, the court orders the property divided. Since in modern times most landnot capable of being split, due to small lots with houses on them and zoning and subdivision laws, most often partitions are done by selling the house and "partitioning" the net money received (after paying off loans and sales commissions, etc.) under court supervision, including court-determined adjustments in the cash given each former owner for reimbursement of excess expenditures by one owner for necessary costs such as loan payments, property taxes, insurance and necessary repairs.

Partition suits are slow and rather expensive, but if this house has no loans against it, the results could be a great improvement over the alternative. Also, when defendant co-owners are served with partition suits, they often come to the bargaining table and negotiate a reasonable out-of-court settlement.

Please feel free to contact me for further no-obligation discussions. I have other cases and clients in your area, including Chico, Quincy, Nevada City, Weed and Yreka. A friend once owned a beautiful Victorian on Bird St., and another had a business down near Koppers. Maybe we can work out a fee deal.