Associate Attorney Connor Nelson
Did you or someone you know become co-owners to real property and now they just want “out,” but can’t reach an agreement with the other owner(s) about a sale, buyout, or other equitable division? Thankfully, Ohio’s Revised Code has a solution for this dilemma, and it is known as a partition. In short, a partition is an action in which you petition the court to divide real property equitably amongst co-owners.
Before getting into the details, it is important to note that a partition action only applies to co-owners of real property that are named as grantees on a deed or other conveying instrument. A partition cannot be used if the co-owners are married, if there is a written agreement between the co-owners laying out what would happen in the case of a disagreement (typically known as a tenancy-in-common agreement), or if the real property is held by a co-member LLC or other corporate entity.
What is a Partition?
So, what exactly is a partition, then? A partition is a court case through which a single joint owner of a parcel of real property can request the court to split the property equitably. This type of case is called a partition because, at its origin, the purpose of this action was to physically divide (otherwise known as partition) real property into equal shares for each joint owner. Think of early American history, where four children may receive a 40-acre farm as inheritance from their parents—in those times, a court would physically divide the parcel into four equal ten-acre tracts as fairly as possible for each joint owner.
A partition action only applies to co-owners of named as grantees on a deed…It cannot be used if the co-owners are married, if there is a written agreement in the case of a disagreement, or if the real property is held by a co-member of a corporate entity.
As you can imagine, this certainly wouldn’t work in most circumstances today. It would be quite difficult to argue that cutting a half-acre lot with a 3,000 square foot home on it into multiple pieces could ever lead to a fair or reasonable result for each owner. Accordingly, most partition actions today lead to a sale of the property. In this situation, the Court will appoint a commissioner and order the property to be appraised and sold (either privately or at sheriff sale) with proceeds split equitably amongst the joint owners of the real property.
If you believe you or someone you know needs to proceed with a partition action, Yonas and Phillabaum LLC is an experienced real estate litigation firm and is ready to assist you today.
This is not legal advice; this is a legal advertisement.
