Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin

A husband and wife owned a parcel of land in WI. They both died and left the property to their only two sons (50% each TIC). One of their sons died and left (TIC) interests in his 50% to each of 6 children. The land now has 7 partial owners with the following interest percentages - 50, 10,10,10,10,5,5. As you might imagine, it is impossible to get unanimous agreement on any issue related to the property (eg, possibly renting the property for pasture land). Is there a legal mechanism by which a majority of ownership interest can make a decision binding on the ownership as a whole (on any issue up to and including a sale) ?


Asked on 1/13/14, 7:20 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas Schober Schober Schober & Mitchell, S.C.

The only resolution that Wisconsin has in such a situation is what is referred to as "Partition." When multiple owners of real estate cannot agree, any owner can request that the property be partitioned, or divided up, so such interested party can be in complete control over the parcel they receive. If the property cannot be fairly partitioned, the court orders the property sold and divides up the proceeds.

While I have had to use the threat of a partition action often, most often it brings the parties to the table and results in a resolution of the problem, since neither side wants to see a lot of the equity in the property go into litigation costs.

Good luck!

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Answered on 1/13/14, 9:01 am


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