Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Sadly, as a co-owner he has the right to occupy the property. You are lucky he pays the taxes and maintenance. I have handled cases where that isn't being done. The only real remedy is a partition lawsuit to divide the property and because it sounds like it is just a single family home (as opposed to a 40 acre farm where you could each take your own 20 acres) it will need to be sold. Perhaps just threatening to file such a suit will motivate your brother to buy you out. Please feel free to contact me for a free consultation and I can give you more detail about what a partition action involves.

You are extremely unlikely to find a buyer. No one is going to want to buy into a property they cannot use or occupy except by filing a lawsuit against your brother. And even if someone were interested, they would only pay you a few cents on the dollar for the value of your share. The "forced sale" option is called a Partition action. That is your only option other than to do nothing. The bad news is that an average partition action costs between $10,000 and $15,000, and it is a full-blown lawsuit. The good news is that $10k-$15k is not very expensive as lawsuits go, and the reason the cost is (relatively) low is that the mere filing of the lawsuit, together with the fact that unless the parties settle by agreement the court basically always must order the sheriff to sell the property at auction (like a foreclosure), usually brings the parties to the table for one to buy out the other. In fact I have never heard of a Partition case going to trial and sale rather than settling. The sooner the owners come to their senses that there is no way to avoid a sale except by a buy-out, and the sooner they settle any claims for reimbursement for any money put into the property, the less the case costs. In some cases just the threat of the lawsuit coupled with an offer to mediate the matter gets settlement talks going. I note you used a Sacramento County zip, code, which I assume is the location of the property. I have two facilities in the Sacramento area for handling cases up there. I also have almost 25 years experience with real estate litigation, including Partition actions. If you would like to discuss how I might be able to assist you with this situation, please give me a call or send me an email.

If he won't buy you out, you will have to file a partition action for partition by sale if the property is not capable of division in kind. As Mr. McCormick states, you are unlikely to find a decent buyer in your situation that would purchase your interest. The partition lawsuit will force your brother to come up with the funds to buy you out if he wants to keep the property.