Owning a piece of property with one or more individuals does not always go well. If you and your co-owners disagree on what to do with your real estate, it can become impossible to conduct any productive action with the property. Some property owners resolve this situation by filing a partition action in court.
A partition action is a lawsuit filed in court to divide up co-owned property. The Motley Fool explains that a court will order a resolution, which can take different forms.
Dividing the property
A possible outcome of a partition suit is that a court will split up the land into different pieces and award undivided interests to you and your co-owners. This gives all the owners involved control over an individual portion of the original property. There are also rare instances when a court will award the entire property to a single owner and then order the sole owner to buy out the others.
A court will likely divide up property if it consists of wide acreage or it would be easy to split up the land. An open field is a prime example. But if your dispute occurs over what to do with property that is hard to divide like a residential property or a commercial building, a court may choose a different solution.
Selling the property
In the event a court finds it difficult or unfeasible to divide a property, the court will likely order the sale of the property. A court may order the sale through an auction or a private sale. In this scenario, you and each of your co-owners should receive an equal share of the proceeds. A court may also choose this option if you and your co-owners cannot agree on how to divide the property.
Even if a sale of the property is not your preferred option, you should still receive money from the sale, which may allow you to purchase another property later on if you wish.
