The California Partition Law begins at Code of Civil Procedure section 872.010 and ends at Code of Civil Procedure section 874.323. Section 872.220 requires that the plaintiff state the existence and location of a title report if they have procured one. A title report includes a preliminary report, guarantee, binder, or policy of title insurance. (CCP § 872.010 subd. (e).)
Code of Civil Procedure section 872.220 states
If it is necessary to have a title report:
The significance of the differences between legal and equitable title is an outright confusing topic, requiring some knowledge of constructive trusts, beneficial interests, and seller’s liens. That said, the concept can be made digestible by boiling it down to its essential elements. When done, this simplification reveals how often we encounter both types of titles in common real estate transactions.
At its core, the difference between these titles contains significance only insofar as there are multiple interested parties in the same property. When this is the case, the law creates a legal fiction of sorts, assigning the beneficial use of the property to the “equitable” titleholder and the legal power over the property to the “legal” titleholder.
The explanation is, in reality, much more complex, but the attorneys at Underwood Law are more than familiar with the ins and outs of title disputes and are here to help navigate you through your real estate lawsuit.
When a title owner sues to partition the property, then the matter is relatively straightforward. On the other hand, when a person claims to be an owner of the property but does not appear on the title, can they still sue to partition the property?
A legal titleholder—as well as the holder of an equitable title to an undivided interest—may sue to establish his or her right and to obtain a division of the common property. (Varni v. Devoto (1909) 10 Cal.App. 304.) Not all equitable titles, however, are created equal. Indeed, the partition statute explicitly lists the types of equitable interests that may have a right to seek recourse through the partition.
California Partition Law Blog