How do I divide co-owned property?

Question: How do I divide co-owned property? My parents passed away and left all of their property to me and my brothers and sisters equally.

Answer: Under these circumstances, each of you would own an undivided equal interest in the property. This means that each of you would be able to use all of the property all of the time. If you no longer want to be co-owners, then your best option would be to try to negotiate an agreement to divide the property. This would be less time consuming and would avoid the cost of a lawsuit.

If you can’t get everyone to agree on how to divide the property, then you can file a suit for partition. Partition means to divide into parts. In the legal world there are two kinds of partition: partition in kind and partition by sale.

Partition in kind means that the property is divided into sections and each person owns a section. The co-ownership is dissolved. If the property is partitioned in kind, then each person would own an individual piece of the property in their own name and would have the right to exclude others from entering or using the property. If the property was partitioned by sale, the each person would receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the property according to their ownership interests.

The house in the city may not be susceptible to partition in kind. You can’t really put a fence through the middle of the living room. This is not practicable and would affect the value of the property. If property cannot be divided in a fair and equitable way without materially affecting its value, then the property may need to be sold.

The 100 acres of land in the country is more susceptible to partition in kind. It’s easy to put up a fence to divide the property into different sections.

Texas law favors partition in kind over partition by sale.

Other issues to be considered in dividing the property, whether partition in kind or by sale, would be amounts contributed by one person to maintain or improve the property, such as taxes paid, repairs, remodeling, additions, etc.

Call me.
If you need assistance in negotiating an agreement to divide your property or to file suit for partition, visit LouisVetranoLaw.com, call me at 210-862-5786 or email me at Lvetrano@flash.net.

Notice and Disclaimer
This information is intended as general information for educational purposes only and is based on Texas law. It is not intended to be legal advice for your particular circumstances. This lawyer does not represent you unless and until you sign a written engagement agreement expressly retaining me for your particular matter. The law changes and each person’s individual circumstances may change how the law is applied. Please consult an attorney before taking any action that has legal consequences.

Copyright © 2019 by Louis A. Vetrano, Jr. – Licensed in Texas.