What your parents put in writing controls. If the trust or deed leaves the house to all of you, a brother’s or sister’s claim that Mom promised them the house for life won’t stop a partition sale.
In Adams v. Hopkins, the California Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations never bars a partition action between co-owners. Time matters only when a co-owner has already lost title to another through adverse possession.
In Cosler v. Norwood, the California Court of Appeal upheld a 3/4–1/4 split between joint tenants based on what each actually paid, holding that a co-owner who sues for partition and an accounting puts both owners’ interests in issue, so the joint tenancy deed is only one piece of evidence.
In Capuccio v. Caire (1922), the California Supreme Court held that co-owners who moved property into a revived company without a co-owner’s consent could not defeat her partition. The company at most stepped into their shoes as a co-owner.
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 Martin v. Walker, the California Supreme Court held that a co-owner who never lived on the property, and whose co-owner held all of it and denied their title, could still sue for partition. The court decides who owns what in the same case.
In De Uprey v. De Uprey, the California Supreme Court affirmed the sale of a co-owned San Francisco lot despite five demurrers, holding that a partition complaint need not say how the property should be divided and that ownership disputes are decided inside the partition.
A resulting trust is how California law protects someone who paid for real estate titled in another person’s name. If you put money toward the purchase, you may own a share the deed does not show, and a partition action lets the court decide that share before the property is sold, so you receive the … Read More
No. Putting your girlfriend on the deed does not mean she gets half of what you paid. In a California partition action, the co-owner who paid more is generally repaid first, and a partition ends the co-ownership even if she won’t sign a quitclaim deed.
A quiet title action asks a court to decide who owns property. In co-ownership disputes, it is often paired with a partition action, which ends the co-ownership.
A cross-complaint for declaratory relief can clarify the parties’ rights in a partition action. But its value is limited for ownership disputes, since ownership is already at issue in every partition.
A California partition action can resolve ownership, title disputes, reimbursements, rent, liens, fees, and the sale. Learn its scope, limits, and how the accounting affects your payout.
A demurrer challenges a pleading that does not state facts sufficient for a claim. Here is how the sham pleading doctrine and truthful pleading requirement affect demurrers.
Legal title is who appears on the deed. Equitable title can belong to someone else. The difference often matters when a partition action involves a quiet title dispute.
Unlike most lawsuits, a California partition action has two phases. The interlocutory judgment ends the first phase by deciding the right to partition, before the sale and accounting.
A partition action is a court-ordered division of property. Here are common examples of co-ownership disputes that lead to a partition in California.
Code of Civil Procedure section 872.430 lets a partition defendant claim contribution or other offsets in the answer itself, without filing a cross-complaint.
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.
Code of Civil Procedure section 872.620 lets the court determine the state of the title as part of the partition action.
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Practical guides from attorneys who focus exclusively on California partition actions.
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