Partition action

What it means

Three siblings who inherit a house own it together, and each of them can insist on being bought out or on the house being sold. That right is not conditional on the others agreeing: a co-owner may bring a partition action, and a court will order the property divided if it can be, and sold and the proceeds divided if it cannot.

Land can sometimes be split between the owners. A house cannot, so partition of a home generally means a sale, and it is conducted the way that state's law directs rather than the way a family would sell it themselves. Whether the state the property sits in gives co-owners of family property anything beyond the ordinary partition rules is a question for a lawyer there: Sahvelo has not read the partition statutes of any state and does not say.

The costs come out of the property, and they are substantial. A partition is the outcome that everybody involved would have avoided if they could have agreed, which is why the useful moment is before it is filed rather than after.

Land can sometimes be split. A house cannot, so partition of a home almost always means a sale — historically at a court-ordered auction, at a price well below the market. A number of states have enacted a version of a uniform reform act meant to change that; Sahvelo has not read it or any state's enactment at its own source, so what it requires where your property sits is a question for a local attorney.

Why it matters

Inheriting a house jointly is presented to families as the neutral option, and it is the option that puts every co-owner in a position to force a sale.

It is also how family land is lost across generations, as shares fragment among heirs who have never met and one of them sells.

When you are likely to meet it

• When siblings inherit a house and one wants out.
• When a co-owner will not contribute to taxes, insurance or repairs.
• When somebody who inherited a small share is approached by a buyer.

How this varies by state

Whether a state has enacted the reform act makes a large difference to the outcome. Sahvelo has read no state's partition statute at its source and does not publish which states have.

Related terms

• Estate saleA sale of the contents of a house, usually run by a company on commission. It is one of several ways to clear a home, and rarely the only one worth considering.
• Fair market valueWhat a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither under pressure and both knowing the facts.
• HeirSomeone entitled to inherit under state law when there is no will — not simply a relative.
• Heirs' propertyLand or a home that passed informally to several generations of heirs, so that many people own undivided shares and nobody has clear title.
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorshipA way two or more people own something together where, when one dies, the others simply own it — with no probate.
• Partition in kindPhysically dividing co-owned land between the owners, rather than selling it and dividing the money.
• Property tax saleThe process by which a county sells a property, or a lien on it, because the property taxes went unpaid.
• Real propertyLand and what is permanently attached to it — a house, a barn, a fixed structure. Everything else a person owns is personal property.
• Tenancy in commonCo-ownership where each owner has their own share, and that share passes to their heirs rather than to the other owners.
• Undivided interestA share of the whole of a property, rather than a piece of it. A one-third interest is not one third of the land.
• Uniform Partition of Heirs Property ActA model law on the partition of co-owned family property, enacted in a version by a number of states.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• The empty house
• When one owner wants to force the sale