The California Partition Remedy addresses disputes between co-owners of a property. A partition action is utilized when co-owners cannot decide how to handle jointly-owned property. When a property is jointly owned by two or more parties, all owners have a right to the partition remedy to divide their interest in the property. Co-owners may be family members, friends, unmarried or divorced couples, or business partners. Usually co-owners buy or inherit property on good terms with the same objective in mind, but over time their interests diverge, and they develop conflicting ideas about how to use, manage, improve, or dispose of the property. Properties subject to partition include, but are not limited to, single-family residences, vacation homes, investment properties, commercial buildings, apartment buildings, and parcels of land.
A Partition Referee is needed when the co-owners are at odds with each other and they cannot agree how to move forward with jointly-owned property. A Partition Referee is extremely helpful because real property is not something that can be simply split in half when co-owners disagree or when they want to liquidate contested property. A Partition Referee is a neutral third-party appointed by the court to direct the partition or division of real property. Typically, a Partition Referee will determine that partition should be accomplished by the sale of the property and then the proceeds will be distributed between the co-owners. A Partition Referee’s primary focus is to achieve a beneficial resolution for all interested property owners.
Richardson “Red” Griswold of Griswold Law, APC is regularly appointed in over 120 courts across the State of California to act as a Partition Referee in these types of cases. If you want to learn more about the partition remedy and how a court-appointed partition referee can assist, please contact Griswold Law Receiverships.
