Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act
A model law on the partition of co-owned family property, enacted in a version by a number of states.
What it means
The Uniform Law Commission published it to address a specific failure: a co-owner, often somebody who had bought a small share from a relative, could file for partition, a court would order the land sold, frequently for far less than it was worth, and the family would lose it.
A number of states have enacted a version of the act. What each version requires before a sale can be ordered, and which properties it reaches, is set by that state's own statute.
Sahvelo has not read the act, or any state's enactment of it, at its own source, and so does not publish what the protections are. That is the same rule that governs everything else here: what Sahvelo states about a statute, it has read. Until the reading is done, the useful thing it can give you is the question.
Why it matters
Whether a state has enacted a version of it is one of the largest differences in outcome between two otherwise identical families.
Whatever a state's version provides, it will be exercised within a period that starts when somebody is served, so a family that does not answer a case gets none of it.
When you are likely to meet it
- When a co-owner files to force the sale of family land.
- When an investor who bought one relative's share starts a court case.
- When asking a lawyer or a legal aid office what protections apply to a property.
How this varies by state
Enacted in a version by a number of states, some with material changes, and not enacted in the rest. Sahvelo has read no state's statute at its source and publishes no adoption list: the located citations are internal research, in content/heirs-property-protections.json.
Related terms
Official sources
The authority this page describes, at the agency that publishes it. Sahvelo does not restate a rule from a secondary source.