Whether you’re at odds with a family member over selling or dealing with a business partner who wants out of a real estate deal, a partition action can help resolve a deadlock.
A partition action can help give you a path forward when you just can’t agree with a property co-owner — even if you’ve reached a stalemate. We’ll walk you through how it works.
A partition action is a legal tool you can use if you and a co-owner can’t agree on what to do with a shared property. It typically asks the court to split the property, order a sale, or approve another way to separate your share from the other owner’s share.
You can’t just remove someone from a deed because of a disagreement. But in some cases, you have a right to ask the court to decide whether to divide or sell the property through a partition. That’s true even if you own a smaller share of the property. The process helps you get compensation for your share in a property that you have rights to but don’t want to keep. This way, you don’t have to choose between being tied to a property and giving up your rights to it.
A partition lawsuit sounds intense, particularly when the dispute involves siblings, family land, or a home shared with your ex. But when communication has broken down, this may be the clearest way to settle the matter and let each owner move on.
Multiple real estate owners may not agree on the next steps in these situations:
These are difficult disputes because everyone with a right to the property must be considered. Especially for families, a court-ordered partition is a significant legal step that you should weigh carefully. Through negotiation or guided mediation, you may be able to come to a different agreement, like a voluntary buyout or a rental agreement.
Legal guidance can help you understand your options.
Courts typically choose one of three paths when someone files a partition action: dividing the land, selling the property, or allowing one owner to buy out the other(s).
A partition in kind divides the property into separate pieces, and each co-owner gets one. They can do whatever they want with their slice of the pie — sell it, build on it, or rent it.
This approach is more common with big plots of vacant land, rural property, or farmland, where it’s possible and fair to split the land.
For instance, if three sisters inherit 90 acres, a court could divide it into three 30-acre parcels.
If your disagreement involves a residential home, you’re likely looking at a partition by sale. It’s not practical (or even possible) to split a home up into parts, so you sell the whole thing and divide the proceeds instead.
Courts may call for the owners to list the property on the open market and sell it for a fair price, or sales are conducted via a court-supervised auction or referee sale. The method varies by state. The co-owners then divide the money (according to their ownership percentages and any court-approved adjustments).
I the disputed property has sentimental value to one of the owners, a partition by appraisal may offer a good solution. Instead of selling the property to a stranger or splitting it into pieces, one owner buys out the other owners.
The “appraisal” piece comes in if the court appoints an independent appraiser to figure out the fair market value of the property. Once the value is determined, the buying owner gets a set amount of time to come up with the funds to pay the other owners for their shares. After that, ownership is transferred, often by a Quitclaim Deed or similar document.
Partition by appraisal is often used for inherited family property. Under laws like the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, an appraisal-based buyout can keep family land from getting into the hands of outside buyers.
A partition lawsuit can feel overwhelming. The exact rules vary by state, so get legal guidance for your situation, but here are some things the process might involve:
A great, big caveat before we get into this: The costs and timeline for a partition case will depend on the state you’re in and the details of your specific case.
As for the timeline, partition actions usually take a little over a year to resolve. If the case is straightforward, it could move faster. That’s also true if the co-owners settle early. If the court is backed up or the case is complex, the process could take longer.
Let’s look at costs commonly tied to partition actions:
A LegalShield® Personal Plan can put more affordable legal guidance within your reach.
The person responsible for paying partition action costs is highly case-dependent. In some states, some or all of these costs will come out of the sale proceeds before the co-owners split the money.
Sometimes, though, the court decides who pays what. And they can base that on owner conduct, ownership percent, and similar factors.
It’s usually not easy to stop a partition action. That’s because co-owners often have a legal right to ask the court to sell or divide the shared property. One possible exception: You have a written agreement where an owner or owners gave up, limited, or delayed their right to partition.
A buyout offer may be more practical if you’re trying to stop a partition action. One co-owner can offer to buy the other’s share at a fair price (by appraisal or agreement).
One other factor that can put the brakes on a partition action is a divorce. Specifically, if the property is tied up in a divorce, the family court rules are likely to control how that property gets divided. A standard partition action may not be the appropriate path in such a case, and state law also may dictate which approach is used.
Property disputes are often emotional and expensive. That’s especially true when the property is tied to family, a former relationship, or a business that didn’t work out as planned.
A partition action may be able to help in these situations, but speaking with a lawyer before you file or respond to one can help you understand your options and decide on the next step. With a LegalShield Personal Plan, you can get access to a provider law firm that can discuss next steps in your co-owned property dispute, review certain letters or legal documents, and help you better understand what a partition lawsuit could mean for your ownership rights.
Learn more about LegalShield Personal Plans and how to get access to affordable legal guidance on real estate matters.
Sources
Uniform Law Commission. (2010). Partition of Heirs Property Act. https://www.uniformlaws.org/committees/community-home?CommunityKey=50724584-e808-4255-bc5d-8ea4e588371d
If you own property with someone else, that co-owner might have the right to ask a court for a partition action. The court may order a sale of the property as a result — even if you don’t want to sell.
Who pays for the lawyer in a partition action depends on the case and the law in your state. In some cases, certain lawyer fees and court costs might come from the sale proceeds before the money is split up. The court might make a different determination, though, based on owner conduct, ownership share, and ownership percentage.
You don’t always need to go to court for a partition. The partition lawsuit starts in the court system, but many cases end before trial through a settlement, private sale, buyout, or other agreement between the owners.
A co-owner may be able to keep living in the property during the lawsuit, but this will depend on the ownership arrangement and court orders. If one owner keeps another from using the property, the court might consider whether “ouster” rent or other credits apply. These rules can vary, so it’s a good idea to talk to a lawyer about how they may apply in your situation.
Content Specialist at LegalShield, creating educational resources about legal and consumer protection topics. She focuses on making complex legal and financial concepts accessible to readers and has contributed to various educational articles on consumer rights and protections.
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