Rancho Palos Verdes Partition Action Attorney

Why Rancho Palos Verdes Co-Owners End Up in a Partition Action

You co-own a house or a piece of land in Rancho Palos Verdes with someone else, and that person will not sell, will not buy you out, will not move out, and will not agree to anything. Maybe it is a sibling who inherited the property with you and wants to keep it, or a former partner who will not cooperate on anything anymore. Every month it sits unresolved is a month your share of its value stays tied up in property taxes, insurance, and upkeep nobody wants to keep paying alone.

As a Rancho Palos Verdes partition action attorney, our firm reads these disputes the way we read every real property matter that touches an estate, with the litigation background to spot when a stalled co-ownership began as an inheritance nobody finished dividing.

A resolved partition case gets your share of the property’s value freed from someone who won’t cooperate. Tell us about the property and the other owner, and we can help you understand where things stand.

Partition Cases Our Rancho Palos Verdes Attorneys Handle

Every partition dispute starts differently, but the goal is the same: dividing what everyone owns, fairly, once co-owners can no longer agree. In Rancho Palos Verdes and across the South Bay, our attorneys have represented co-owners in matters including:

• Siblings or other family members who inherited a Rancho Palos Verdes property together and disagree about selling it or keeping it
• Unmarried couples or former partners who bought property jointly and have since separated
• Business partners or investors who co-own real property and no longer agree on its use
• Co-owners locked in a buyout dispute, where one wants to keep the property and the other wants their share in cash
• Disagreements over unequal contributions to the mortgage, property taxes, or repairs on a shared property

Whatever brought the co-ownership to this point, the legal path for resolving it in California follows the same basic structure.

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What California Law Actually Gives a Co-Owner

Under the Partition of Real Property Act (CCP 874.311 and following), when co-owners each own a share of the property (called tenants in common) and have no written agreement about splitting it up, a co-owner who did not request the sale generally has the option to buy out the co-owner who did (CCP 874.317).

The court first determines the property’s fair market value, usually through an appraisal by a court-appointed appraiser, and the buying co-owner then has a limited time to choose to buy and pay that share of the value to the court. This buyout option applies when a co-owner asks the court to sell the property. If no one buys, the judge looks first at dividing the property.

A sale is ordered only if dividing it would seriously hurt the owners as a group. This protection applies to tenancy-in-common property generally, not only property inherited from a relative, though it grew out of an earlier law limited to inherited (“heirs”) property.

How a Partition Case Moves Through the Torrance Courthouse

Partition cases involving Rancho Palos Verdes property are filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s Southwest District, the Torrance Courthouse at 825 Maple Avenue, which handles civil matters for Rancho Palos Verdes, Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, and nearby cities. Once the court confirms a co-owner’s right to partition, it orders an appraisal to set the property’s value. If the property is sold, a court-appointed referee handles the sale and reports back to the judge before it is final.

Managing Partner Christina M. Wickers Herman regularly appears in Los Angeles County courts.

Partner Alexandra L. Admans has been with the firm since 2013. She focuses on estate and trust litigation and business litigation, the kinds of disputes that often sit behind a stalled co-ownership.

Rancho Palos Verdes Partition Action Questions We Hear Most

What happens first in a partition action?

We file a complaint asking the court to confirm your right to partition, and the other co-owner has a chance to respond. Once the court confirms that right, the case moves to how the property will be divided or sold.

Will my case be heard at the Torrance Courthouse?

If the property sits in Rancho Palos Verdes, Palos Verdes Estates, or a nearby city, your case is filed with the Southwest District at the Torrance Courthouse on Maple Avenue but can also be filed at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, in the Central District.

Can my co-owner stop me from forcing a sale?

Usually not from filing. A co-owner can only block a partition case with a valid agreement giving up that right, and most never signed one. But the court may let your co-owner buy your share at the appraised value, or divide the property, instead of selling it.

What if this property came from my parent’s or grandparent’s estate?

The same rules apply. It covers any co-owned property held as tenants in common, not only property inherited from a relative. If you ask for a sale, the other co-owners generally get the first chance to buy your share at the appraised value.

How long does a partition case take in Los Angeles County?

How long a case takes depends on whether the co-owners agree. Cases that settle early move faster than cases where owners fight over the value or the sale.

What does a partition action cost, and who pays for it?

Costs can include attorney fees, referee fees, and appraisal fees. The court usually splits them among the co-owners by ownership share, or in another fair way (CCP 874.040). We can walk through the specific costs for your property during a consultation.

What happens if my co-owner will not respond to the case?

If a co-owner fails to respond within the time California law allows, we can ask the court to move the case forward without them.

What if we disagree about what the property is worth?

A court-appointed appraiser values the property. Either co-owner can object to that value, and the judge makes the final call.

If any of this sounds like your situation, the next step is a conversation about the specific property and the specific co-owner involved.

Talk to a Rancho Palos Verdes Partition Attorney Today

A stalled co-ownership does not resolve itself, and the longer it sits, the more it costs everyone involved in taxes, upkeep, and lost time.

Our attorneys combine real property litigation with an estate and trust litigation background suited to partition cases that started as an inheritance nobody finished dividing.

Contact us to schedule a consultation, bring the details of the property and the other co-owner, and find out where your partition case stands and what your share is worth.

Call today for clarity before conflict: (310) 540-2520