Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas

Re: Property Taxes

Your paying taxes will not cause a forfeiture of his co-ownership regardless of how many years your pay it unless your are trying to perfect title by adverse possession. It is virtually impossible to perfect title by adverse possesion against a co-tenant. To do so, you would have to lock him out of the premises, notify him that you are claiming full title to the property, and possess it exclusively for 10 or more years. Like most instances such as this, title by adverse possession against a co-tenant is not a viable option.

If the matter cannot be resolved, and he will not agree to sell the property or reimburse you for his share of taxes, you always have the right to file a partition suit to have the property divided in kind if it is susceptible to division in kind, or not reasonably susceptible of such a division, force it to sold by the sheriff or a receiver. In the partition action you will want to seek to recover his share of the taxes that you paid, and you likely to be successful on that point. However, the more years that go by the more messy it will get.