A co-owner in sole possession who paid all the expenses often expects full reimbursement. Under Hunter v. Schultz, the other co-owner can offset the property’s rental value against those claims.
Code of Civil Procedure section 873.770 explains how the referee distributes sale proceeds when the buyer is also a party entitled to part of them, as with a credit bid.
Milian v. De Leon (1986) 181 Cal.App.3d 1185 held that once a partition court finds a true joint tenancy, the co-owners generally share equally without reimbursement for unequal contributions.
A partition by sale is a court-ordered sale of jointly owned property, with the proceeds divided among the co-owners. It is the most common outcome of a California partition.
Code of Civil Procedure section 873.610 lets the court set the manner, terms, and conditions of a partition sale, and lets the referee make recommendations about them.
How a co-owner who wants out wins a partition action in California: force the sale or a buyout, answer the defenses your co-owner will raise, maximize your offsets, and build your record from day one.
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.
Code of Civil Procedure section 873.850 lets the partition action continue between the parties to decide how proceeds are allocated when that hasn’t yet been determined.
Code of Civil Procedure section 872.610 provides that the interests of all parties, plaintiff and defendant alike, may be tried and decided in the partition action.
Wallace v. Daley (1990) 220 Cal.App.3d 1028 may be the most cited case in California partition law. It holds that every partition includes an accounting of offsets.
Code of Civil Procedure section 872.140 lets the court in every partition action order an accounting, contribution, and other compensatory adjustments between co-owners according to equity.
When co-owners can’t agree, a California court can force a sale. Before the proceeds are split, the court credits co-owners for mortgage payments, taxes, improvements, and rental value.
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Practical guides from attorneys who focus exclusively on California partition actions.
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