A real estate attorney can help you with a partition action, which is a legal mechanism used to resolve disputes when two or more people jointly own real estate. The most common scenario is when one of the joint owners no longer wishes to own the property, but the owners cannot agree on how to reach that goal.
Types of Partition Actions
Two different types of partition actions are possible under Arizona law. One or both options may be available to you, depending on your circumstances.
Partition in Kind
A partition action allows a joint owner to get a court order to divide the property, which allows them to sell their part of the property. This type of partition may be helpful in the case of an undeveloped parcel of land that the court can divide into two or more separate parcels. The owner who wishes to sell their parcel is free to do so once the court has divided the parcels.
Partition by Sale
More commonly, individuals will pursue a partition by sale. In this type of partition action, your real estate attorney can seek a court order to sell the entire property and divide the proceeds between the owners. For instance, a partition by sale may be the only possible solution if the property consists of a single parcel with a single-family home on it. In that situation, there may be no other way to equitably divide the property between the owners for a sale of only one owner’s share of the property.
Filing to Compel Partition
Under A.R.S. § 12-1211, any real estate owner can file a partition action in the superior court in the county in which the real estate is located. In your petition for partition, your real estate attorney must include the following information:
- Describe the real estate, including its location, and give its approximate value
- Name all owners of the property and their residences
- Identify the share or interest of each owner, to the best of your knowledge
Selling the Real Estate
In most cases, the only realistic option is partition by sale. As a result, when you file to compel the partition of real estate, if the owners cannot agree on how to sell the real estate, the court will appoint one or more “commissioners” to sell the real estate. The commissioners typically are Arizona real estate brokers or similar professionals who regularly handle these types of transactions. The court usually will pay the commissioners a reasonable sales fee for handling the sale of the property.
There are generally no defenses that ultimately block a partition action from resulting in a property sale unless the property owners can agree on an alternative solution. As a result, partition actions often result in a forced sale of the property and the distribution of the sale proceeds according to the percentage of ownership interests that each owner has in the real estate. The only exception might be if one or more of the other owners can agree to buy out the ownership interest of the owner who has filed the partition action.
Distributing the Proceeds of the Sale
Generally, owners will receive proceeds of the sale divided according to their respective interests in the property. However, you should keep in mind that in dividing the physical property or the proceeds of the property’s sale, the judge can consider factors that might affect the interest that each owner has in the property. For instance, suppose that one of two joint owners paid most or all of the mortgage payments during the period of joint ownership, or one owner paid to make substantial improvements to the property. In those situations, the owner who contributed to the property financially may have a greater degree of ownership than the other owner or owners.
Call a Real Estate Attorney Today at Provident Law
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