Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Re: Property Rights

Your ownership interest is determined by the deed, and whether you and your partner are tenants in common or joint tenants with a right of survivorship.

If you can prove with documents your contribution to the purchase, you may be able to recoup that money, or the court can find you contributed it voluntarily and are not entitled to have it refunded. I can't tell without a thorough document review.

You can file a "partition" action. There, the court will order the property sold. The market is not at its best right now, and the Court cannot guarantee that you will get the best possible price for the house, only what the market will bear.

If you and your partner can cooperate about this, and resolve your issues through ADR and not court, you can potentially save yourselves a lot of money and grief, especially in today's market.

Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell