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.
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 buyout only works if your co-owner can pay and follows through. When the buyout falls apart, a California partition action can force the sale of the co-owned property.
When a co-owner ignores you about selling jointly owned property, California law lets you force a resolution through a partition action.
Family Code section 2108 lets a family court order a sale before judgment only for good cause. When you co-own with a divorcing couple, a partition action is often the more powerful way to force a sale.
A partition action lets a California co-owner force the sale of jointly owned property through the court. This guide walks through the steps, from filing to sale.
You can’t make a mentally ill co-owner pay, move out, or agree to sell, but a California court can order the house sold and credit you for what you paid.
When a relative moves into an inherited house, refuses to sell, and stops paying expenses, the other heirs are left covering the costs. A California partition action can force a sale.
A recession does not affect your right to partition, but it can affect when you should file. Home values, interest rates, and mortgage obligations all shape the best timing.
In California, a co-owner who wants to sell property damaged by fire, flood, or earthquake generally cannot be forced to fund a rebuild. A partition action lets you sell, even when your co-owner wants to rebuild.
When one co-owner’s family gives money toward the down payment, it can become a major dispute in a partition action. Here is how courts treat down payment gifts.
Being stuck on a mortgage with an uncooperative co-owner is hard. Here are the ways to separate yourself from the loan, including a refinance, a buyout, or a partition action.
When defendants ignore a partition summons and complaint, the plaintiff can get a default judgment ordering the property partitioned, usually by sale.
A partition lawyer represents co-owners of California property who can’t agree on whether to keep, sell, or buy out the property. The main tool is a partition action asking the court to order a sale or division.
A tenants in common agreement lets unrelated co-owners share one property, often divided into separate units. Long popular in San Francisco, these agreements are spreading to Los Angeles.
A 1976 case suggested fairness could limit partition, but the Legislature that same year made partition a matter of right unless validly waived. California courts have since rejected the fairness defense.
In a joint tenancy, co-owners hold equal shares with a right of survivorship. Here is how joint tenancy is created in California and what happens when it ends.
Often, yes. When co-owners reach an agreement before or during litigation, everyone wins. Here is how negotiation can end a co-ownership dispute.
Yes. If your family or another co-owner won’t sell the cabin or beach house, or will only offer a low buyout, a California partition action can end the co-ownership through a court-supervised sale or a buyout at a court-set value.
Code of Civil Procedure section 872.040 provides that the partition law does not excuse compliance with other laws governing the division, sale, or transfer of property. A partition is not a way around land-use rules.
Code of Civil Procedure section 872.010 is the definitions section of the partition law. It defines action, lien, property, remainder, and title report for every partition action.
A contractual right of first refusal may require compliance before partition, but it is distinct from the statutory buyout under the Partition of Real Property Act.
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.
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Practical guides from attorneys who focus exclusively on California partition actions.
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