Expertise
Justia Lawyer Rating
Super Lawyers
Avvo Client's Choice
Avvo 10
Lawyers of Distinction
Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Expertise Badge

Carson Partition Lawyer

The City of Carson was named after George Henry Carson, who was married to the daughter of Don Manuel Dominguez, a prominent land owner and owner of the town's land. After Dominguez's death, Carson took over the rancho's management. Today, the city is located in Los Angeles County and is home to factories, refineries, and other industrial buildings. It is also more famously home to a soccer stadium used by the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team. With over 70% of owner-occupied housing units, this suggests that many Carson homes are jointly owned. As such, residents of Carson may face disputes with co-owners. Generally, a partition action is the best remedy for disputing co-owners in four broad categories:

  • Split real estate dispute;
  • Brother-Sister real estate dispute;
  • Investor-Investor real estate dispute; and
  • Significant other real estate dispute

Generally, a partition as to concurrent interests in the property is a matter of right unless the partition is barred by a valid waiver. (CCP § 872.710(b).) Recently, the California Court of Appeal addressed a party's right to partition as a joint tenant after abandoning the property and failing to pay the proportionate share of property expenses in a case decided by the First District Court of Appeal known as Jamison v. McNeal (2022) WL 1438863.

In that case, an unmarried couple took title to the property as joint tenants, and later one party sought to partition the Property. Kurita Jamison and Linton McNeal Jr. lived together in the home with their children until they later split, and Jamison moved out. Jamison and McNeal had an arrangement where they would each pay one of the two mortgages. When Jamison left, she stopped making her payments and McNeal took on the payments. The trial court found in favor of Jamison and granted the partition. McNeal appealed.

The Court of Appeal affirmed, finding that "a cotenant is entitled to partition as a matter of absolute right; that he need not assign any reason for his demand; that it is sufficient if he demands a severance; and that when grounds for a sale are duly established it may be demanded as of right. To grant it is not a mere matter of grace. The only dispensable requirement to partition is that a clear title be shown, and in no event is a partition to be denied because it will result in financial loss to the cotenants." (De Roulet v. Mitchel (1945) 70 Cal.App.2d 120, 124.)

In addition, the Court of Appeal held that "it is well settled that a cotenant holding title in fee, is not barred from pursuing partition by abandonment (see Ferris v. Coover (1858) 10 Cal. 589, 631) or the failure to pay a proportionate share of property expenses (see Lazzarevich v Lazzarevich (1952) 39 Cal. 2d 48, 50-51.) As the trial court properly determined that Jamison was a joint owner, with a concurrent interest in the Property, the Appellate Court determined that Jamison indeed had an absolute right to partition despite abandoning and failing to pay her proportionate share of property expenses.

How Underwood Law Firm Can Help

In order to start resolving these situations, you should contact an experienced Carson Partition Lawyer as soon as you are ready to start the next chapter of your life.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
“We were in need of a real estate attorney. Eli Underwood provided excellent legal advice and services. He explained everything well and followed through with all important issues that needed attention. We found him to be reliable, courteous, patient and extremely professional. We highly recommend Mr. Underwood without any reservations.” I.S.
★★★★★
"I own a real estate investment company that operates across multiple states (California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and more), whenever I run into an issue that needs legal attention, Eli is my first call. I've been working with him for years. He is an amazing attorney and I highly recommend him." Thank you for your help Sir!" T.W.
★★★★★
"Mr. Underwood is a fantastic Lawyer with extraordinary ethics. He responds quickly, which is rare these days, and he is very knowledgeable in his craft. It was a pleasure working with him and we will definitely use his services in the future if needed. Thank you for your help Sir!" M.O.
★★★★★
"Eli took our case and controlled every hurdle put before us. I one time commented to him that he must love his job because it seemed that he was always available. When talking about my case to anyone I always bring up where, I believe, the other parties Lawyer tried to take advantage of my wife and me. Eli stopped him in his tracks. On top of it being easy to work with Eli, it was a pleasure to have had him represent us. We were in good hands." E.T
★★★★★
"We were in need of an attorney with considerable knowledge of real estate law and the legal issues related to property ownership. Eli Underwood went above and beyond our expectations. In keeping us abreast of our suit, his communication skills were outstanding. This talent was especially demonstrated when dealing with the apposing counsel. We feel this gave us a tremendous advantage over the opposing party that resulted in us reaching a successful outcome. I would highly recommend Eli Underwood as we found him to be an exceptional attorney." P.B.
★★★★★
"In our need for legal services we found Eli to be well informed and on top of our case and our needs. Our's was not an ordinary case as it was a case with many facets. It was a very convoluted case. There were multiple owners involved in a property dispute where one of the owners sued the rest of the owners with a Partition Suit. Needless to say Eli was instrumental in helping us resolve our differences and gained us a profitable sale all with good end results for all. If you hire Eli Underwood you will not be disappointed!" M.A.