Riverside Partition Referee

In the State of California when more than one person is a co-owner of the property and one of those individuals wants to sell and the other does not want, the law in the State of California allows the sale of property through a legal action known as partition. Read more.

A co-owner of real estate in the State of California may seek to force a sale through the use of a partition referee. This is accomplished by filing a lawsuit for partition and seeking to have a court-appointed referee appointed by the court. It is very common for family members who inherit property from their deceased relatives to end up in disputes. One relative may want to hold onto the property and another relative may want to sell the property. Read more.

This is a process in the State of California that involves a court-ordered sale of jointly owned property. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 872.210 establishes the legal procedures that may be taken in order to compel the sale of jointly owned real estate. This usually occurs as a result of a disagreement between two or more owners of real property when one owner wants to sell the property and another does not want to do so. A typical scenario involves children that have inherited real estate from their deceased parents.

There are 2 primary types of partition actions. One is known as a partition by sale and in this instance, the court divides the property into separate portions based upon a ruling of the court and the partition referee distributes the sales proceeds pursuant to a court order. The 2nd type of partition action is known as a partition in kind. Although there is another method known as partition by appraisal where one party is ordered to buy out the ownership interests of the other, this is not common.

A joint real property owner must file a lawsuit to have respective ownership interests partitioned. This occurs when one co-owner of real property wants to sell the property but the other co-owners do not want to sell. The filing of the complaint permits the forced sale of the property.

A trial occurs thereafter to adjudicate the propriety of the plaintiff’s right to have the property partitioned and seek the appointment of a referee. If the Court approves the plaintiff’s right to seek a court-appointed partition referee, an interlocutory judgment for partition is entered. After entry of the interlocutory judgment, the Court may issue an order appointing a referee.

The Interlocutory Judgment determines the respective ownership interests and how to divide the property to be partitioned, orders the partition of the property, and determines the method of partition.

The property may be sold either via public or private sale pursuant to CCP §873.610 and the referee may make recommendations with respect thereto including the “manner, terms, and conditions of sale”. The Court will only approve the referee’s recommended manner of sale after the conclusion of a hearing upon noticed motion.

Property is typically sold by private sale with the use of a real estate broker. The Court will confirm the sale at a confirmation hearing, at which time, the Court may confirm the proposed sale including all terms/conditions contained in the purchase and sale agreement, or it may reject the proposed sale and direct that a new sale be made. The minimum overbid is an increased offer that exceeds the sale price by 10% on the first $10,000.00 and 5% on the amount in excess thereof and the appeal period begins upon the circulation of the order confirming the sale and expires 60 days thereafter. The referee may only execute the referee’s deed upon receipt of the signed order confirming the sale.

The Court may order an accounting prior to the distribution of proceeds with recommended offsets. This may be a result of waste or nuisance caused by one of the co-owners of the property. It could also relate to rents collected by one party and not shared with another co-owner. The referee will ordinarily file a report with the Court, including the accounting, and recommended distribution. Following the hearing and receipt of an order approving distribution, the referee may proceed with disbursing net sales proceeds pursuant to Court Order.

Sales proceeds shall be distributed in accordance with CCP §873.820 which directs the referee on how to apply priority to such proceeds which includes, in order of priority (1) sales expenses, including referee’s fees (2) other costs of partition, (3) real property liens; and (4) distribution of the balance to the parties as determined by the Court.

The statutory scheme set up in the State of California involving partition actions may result in the ability to force the sale of property jointly owned by family members. Since California recognizes the absolute right to partition in instances of inheritance, it is unlikely that a joint owner of inherited real estate may successfully challenge the appointment of a partition referee and partition sale of jointly owned real property in the circumstance.

In California, the premise that joint owners of real property have the right to partition is summarized in the following case: “Ordinarily, if the party seeking partition is shown to be a tenant in common, and as such entitled to the possession of the land sought to be partitioned, the right to partition is absolute, and cannot be denied, ‘either because of any supposed difficulty, nor on the suggestion that the interest of the cotenants will be promoted by refusing the application or temporarily postponing action, . . .’” Priddel v. Shankie (1945) 69 Cal.App. 2d 319, 325.

In summary, you may indeed be forced to sell your share of a house that you and your siblings inherited.