Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

Re: multiple names on deed

The person whom you describe as the third party with one share equal to 20% of the total value of the property holds a 1/5 undivided interest in the whole as a tenant in common. This person,

if she or he chose, could file a partition suit in circuit court and force a sale of the property and claim 1/5 of the proceeds from the sale. During this proceeding you could file a counterclaim against the third person's claim for 1/5 of the property's value by presenting credible evidence showing what you paid and contributed to the increase in the value of the property and what the other person paid and contributed, if anything. If the circuit court were forced to settle the matter, a judge would likely find that the third party would be entitled to a return equal to at least the amount of his /her original investment plus some modest increase in equity applied to this amount,

accruable up to the time of the sale-----minus the appropriate share of mandatory assessments against the property such as taxes which were not paid by this third party during the relevant time periods.

Most of these kinds of disputes are usually settled by the agreement of the parties without the need for court involvement, although, sometimes a suit for partition must be filed in order to induce such agreement.