In California, paying someone else’s property taxes does not give you ownership. Taxes matter only as one element of adverse possession, and a co-owner who pays more than their share is reimbursed in a partition action.
In Bacon v. Wahrhaftig, the California Court of Appeal revived a Kern County oil-land partition, holding that fraud, damages and accounting claims against co-owners are part of one partition case, and that the court can decide every issue needed to do complete justice.
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.
Yes, a California co-owner can sell their half of a jointly owned property without the other owner’s consent, but almost no one buys half a house at full value, so the way to cash out your share for what it is actually worth is a co-owner buyout or a partition action.
In Kershman v. Kershman, the California Court of Appeal held that co-owners on a joint tenancy deed can own unequal shares if they agreed their shares would follow what each paid, and that a co-owner’s debts come out of his share of the sale proceeds, not his ownership percentage, so he keeps his share of the appreciation.
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 Southern Adjustment Bureau v. Nelson, the California Court of Appeal held that a co-owner who paid taxes, insurance, and loan payments is repaid the full amount from a partition sale before the rest is split, and showed how repaying only half underpays that co-owner.
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.
Clear and convincing evidence means a fact is highly probable, not just more likely true than not. California requires it before a court will rule that a deed is wrong about who owns the property.
A domestic violence move-out order can remove a co-owner from a California house regardless of title, but it changes only who lives there, not who owns it or how the property is divided.
An individual co-owner can represent themselves in a California partition action, but a company, executor, or trustee must hire a lawyer.
In LEG Investments v. Boxler, the California Court of Appeal held that a right of first refusal between co-owners does not waive partition. The co-owner who wants out must offer its share first; if the other owner declines, a partition sale can follow.
A California transfer on death deed can name several beneficiaries. When the owner dies, they inherit the house together in equal shares. If they cannot agree on keeping, renting, or selling it, any one of them can file a partition action.
Usually, yes. In a California partition action, a co-owner who paid more than their share of the mortgage is generally entitled to be repaid the excess out of the sale proceeds before the remaining money is divided.
A co-owner’s drug addiction cannot stop a partition action. California law gives the other co-owners tools to recover unpaid expenses, protect the property, and end the co-ownership.
Not just because you filed. In California, a co-owner’s buyout right opens only after someone requests partition by sale, and only for property held as tenants in common.
Usually, yes. Filing first in a partition action gives you control over the timeline, the court, the lis pendens, and how the case is framed, advantages the responding co-owner cannot easily reclaim.
Usually not. Living in the house does not give a co-owner control over it. In California, co-owners have equal rights to the property, and a partition action lets the other co-owner force a sale.
If you helped with the down payment and are on title, you are a co-owner under California law. A partition action can recover your money and end your exposure when the arrangement breaks down.
Not automatically. Living in a jointly owned property does not by itself create a rent obligation in California. Whether rent is owed is often decided in a partition action.
No. Locking out a co-owner is likely an ouster under California law and can expose you to damages. A partition action is the proper way to end the co-ownership and recover what you are owed.
Technically, yes. But in a California partition action, the court can make the renting co-owner account for the income, pay for exclusive use, and end the co-ownership.
When a co-owner won’t pay their share of homeowner’s insurance, a partition action lets you recover what you overpaid and end the co-ownership.
A co-owner who abandons a California property keeps their ownership rights. But the co-owner left paying the mortgage and upkeep can use a partition action to force a sale and recover those contributions.
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Practical guides from attorneys who focus exclusively on California partition actions.
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