In Wood v. Henley, the California Court of Appeal held that a co-owner’s family could not take an absent owner’s half interest in Ventura County land by living on it, improving it, and paying taxes, because possession by one co-owner is possession for all.
In Gerontopoulos v. Gerontopoulos, the California Court of Appeal affirmed a partition and upheld a ruling that limited the occupying family’s claim for ordinary repairs and improvements to $180, even though they claimed more than $3,000.
In Mercola v. Chester, the California Court of Appeal approved a partition sale that repaid the co-owners who funded a building before any profit was split by ownership share.
In Demetris v. Demetris, the California Court of Appeal let a father undo a mistaken joint tenancy deed and convert it to a tenancy in common, repaid the extra $1,000 he put toward his son’s share, and held that a loan on the whole house is paid from all the sale proceeds before the co-owners divide it.
In Lazzarevich v. Lazzarevich, the California Supreme Court held that a joint tenant has a right to partition unless waived, and that an unpaid judgment owed to a co-owner cannot defeat that right.
In Ventre v. Tiscornia, the California Court of Appeal held that a co-owner who pays for necessary improvements in good faith must be credited for them in a partition, even without the other owner’s consent.
If you want to improve a co-owned property, timing matters. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of paying for improvements at each stage of a partition action.
Co-owners often seek reimbursement for repairs and improvements in a partition action. The law favors improvements and may not always allow ordinary repairs to be recovered.
Code of Civil Procedure section 873.220 lets a partition in kind allot to a party the portion of the property that includes improvements that party made.
California law allows a co-owner to be compensated for improvements in a partition action, but whether an offset is awarded depends on the circumstances.
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Practical guides from attorneys who focus exclusively on California partition actions.
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