Also known as: partition action · partition suit · partition suits · partition · action for partition
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial proceeding by which a co-tenant may compel the division of property held in concurrent ownership either by physical allotment of separate parcels or by sale with division of proceeds.
Portia Price and Patrick Phan hold a parcel as tenants in common under a conveyance creating a fee simple conditional. Portia files a partition action seeking to end the co-ownership. The court recognizes her power to compel partition of the affected land and orders the proceeding forward.
Pearl Porter and Philip Powell own a subdivided lot as tenants in common. Pearl seeks partition in kind, but zoning rules render any resulting parcels unbuildable. The court orders partition by sale and divides the proceeds because physical division cannot be made fairly.
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Pilar Pena and Phoebe Park attempt to burden their co-owned estate with a servitude without full consent. The attempt fails to bind the nonjoining owner but creates rights enforceable on partition. Pilar later brings a partition action that resolves the servitude claim.
Progressive Healthcare holds real property in trust for multiple beneficiaries. The trustee determines that exchanging or partitioning the asset will better serve the trust purposes. The trustee initiates a partition action to change the character of the trust property.
Premier Manufacturing and Precision Tools acquire property as co-tenants under a will that bars partition for ten years to complete a shared project. After three years one co-tenant seeks partition. The court enforces the restraint because it lasts only for a reasonable time.
Portia Price and Patrick Phan cohabited and acquired property together without marriage. After the relationship ends Patrick files a partition action. The court applies ordinary partition principles to protect both parties interests in the jointly acquired asset.
Co-tenants may agree to postpone partition for a reasonable time that serves a legitimate purpose such as protecting shared financing or a joint project. Courts enforce such restraints when they are limited in duration and tied to a commercial or donative objective. A perpetual or indefinite bar is invalid.
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Partition in kind is generally preferred. A court may order partition by sale when physical division cannot be made fairly and equitably because of the land's physical characteristics or external legal constraints such as zoning.
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Yes. The validity of the restraint is measured at the time it was created. Subsequent market shifts do not retroactively invalidate a restraint that was reasonable when formed and served a legitimate purpose.
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…F.2d 829 (D.C. Cir. 1942). A joint tenancy may be destroyed by voluntary alienation, or by levy and execution, or by compulsory partition, but a tenancy by the entirety may not. The indivisibility of the estate, except by joint action of the spouses, is an indispensable feature of the tenancy by the entirety. Ashbaugh v.…