El Monte Partition Lawyers

The City of El Monte experienced the arrival of its first permanent residents in 1849, who came during the California Gold Rush. Originally, the city's land was used to grow fruit orchards, walnut groves, hay, vegetable fields, and more. Today, El Monte is an urban community with homes, schools, parks, and businesses. As a town constantly developing residential units, commercial property, and industrial property, real estate owners may often face disputes with co-owners. Generally, the best El Monte Partition Lawyers usually find partition action to be 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

One of the things that co-owners of real estate may specifically do is to draft and execute a written partition agreement. While unusual, such an agreement would govern the parties' relationship in the instance that one of them later decided to partition the property. In the case of a breach of a written partition agreement, an aggrieved party may treat the agreement as rescinded and bring an action to partition the property or seek the enforcement of the partition agreement. (see Biggi v. Biggi (1893) 98 Cal. 35.) In Biggi v. Biggi, the court held that the wife was entitled to a judgment for the property's sale and division of the proceeds between the parties where the husband refused to comply with the agreement's terms and the property could not be partitioned without great prejudice to the parties. (Id.)

As such, if a party refuses to comply with the terms of the partition agreement, the aggrieved party may bring an action for specific performance. (see Bank of Healdsburg v. Hitchcock (1888) 76 Cal. 489.) An action for specific performance is a legal claim where a party asks the court to order a party to act, or be prohibited from acting, in a certain way. In the case where the parties bring a partition action concerning a contract that partitions not only the lands in dispute but also other property, the court must not make an order for only a portion of the agreement, but the other properties in the entire contract. (Id.) Thus, where the parties have previously made stipulations in regards to the partition of the property in dispute and other properties and a party fails to comply with such stipulations, the court may not render any order on the stipulation when the contract is entire. (Id.)

If a co-owner refuses to deliver a deed to another co-owner in accordance with the deeds executed conveying to each co-owner their respective shares, the aggrieved party may bring an action to compel the delivery of the deed. (see Ellsworth v. Palmtag (1914) 168 Cal. 360.) The court does not consider the adequacy of the consideration the plaintiff paid when the parties appear to have purchased the land as tenants in common. (Id.)

At Underwood Law Firm, our El Monte Partition Attorneys are well-versed in the legal remedy of partition, and are ready to discuss your legal issues.