Huntington Beach Partition Lawyers

Huntington Beach is a seaside city located in Orange County, and is well known for its almost ten-mile-long stretch of sandy beaches, mild climate, and surfing beach culture, which gave rise to the nickname “Surf City.” Huntington Beach is a tourist city with many condominiums in the area to support the city’s attractions. Joint owners of such property are not immune to disputes and differences. With the help of a Huntington Beach Partition Lawyer, a co-owner of a shared property may need to call upon the legal remedy of partition to settle disagreements with other joint owners.

Huntington Beach Partition Attorneys find partition actions to be the best remedy for fighting co-owners in four broad categories:

• Investor-Investor building dispute;
• Parent-child building dispute;
• Boyfriend-girlfriend building dispute; and
• Shared building dispute;

In general, all real estate is subject to partition. Essentially, partition exists to allow individuals who own real estate together to take their share of equity and go their separate ways. “It is simply a dividing up of what the parties already own.” (Rancho Santa Margarita v. Vail (1938) 11 Cal.2d 501, 539.) The common area in a condominium project cannot be divided, however, and there can be no judicial partition. The Civil Code states that “the common area in a condominium project shall remain undivided, and there shall be no judicial partition thereof.” (Civ. Code § 4610.) Nevertheless, an experienced Huntington Beach Partition Attorney knows that such does not mean that partition of a co-tenancy in a condominium is prohibited altogether.

A joint owner of a condominium project with a separate interest in the property may initiate and maintain a partition action to the entire project as if all joint owners were tenants in common in the entire project in the same proportion to their interests in the common area. (Civ. Code § 4610.) The court will then order a partition by selling the whole condominium and splitting the profits with each co-owner relative to their interest in the real estate. A good Huntington Beach Partition Lawyer, however, knows that certain conditions must be met before the court can issue such a decree.

Within the context of partition law, the trial court must order the partition of property by sale and distribution of proceeds if the parties agree to this procedure. (Code Civ. Proc. § 872.820.) Furthermore, “as partition by the act of the parties rests upon agreement, it is obvious they may resort to any method which to them sees best…” (see Gonzales v. Gonzales (1917) 174 Cal. 588, 594.)

“The court will order a partition… only upon a showing of one of the following: (1) More than three years before the filing of the action, the condominium project was damaged or destroyed, so that a material part was rendered unfit for its prior use, and the condominium project has not been rebuilt or repaired substantially to its state prior to the damage or destruction; (2) Three-fourths or more of the project is destroyed or substantially damaged and owners of separate interests holding in the aggregate more than a 50% interest in the common area oppose repair or restoration of the project; (3) The project has been in existence more than 50 years, is obsolete and uneconomic, and owners of separate interests holding in the aggregate more than a 50% interest in the common area oppose repair or restoration of the project; or (4) Any conditions in the declaration for sale under the circumstances described in this provision have been met.”

As provided by the law, restrictive provisions on partitions are not absolute. At the Underwood Law Firm, our Huntington Beach Partition Lawyers are well versed in the legal remedy of partition and are ready to assist you.