San Bernardino Partition Lawyers

San Bernardino is located in southern California, east of Los Angeles, and is famous for lying along Route 66, one of the most iconic roads in the world, and for sitting at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. As a city with giant roots and long ties tracing back to the California Gold Rush, many San Bernardino residents often find themselves inheriting property from loved ones along with other family and friends.

In these situations, however, an experienced San Bernardino Partition Lawyer understands not everyone inheriting property is willing, or wants, to become entangled in a joint ownership relationship with another person over said property. Suppose two or more beneficiaries are entitled to undivided interests in real estate and have not agreed on what to do with the property, any one of them, or their representative, may petition the court to make a partition of the property before receiving the parcel. (Prob. Code, § 11950.)

There are at least four scenarios where speaking to a San Bernardino Partition Lawyer should be considered when inheriting property:

• Buy out a brother on a jointly owned property;
• Buy out a girlfriend on a jointly owned property;
• Buy out a cousin on a jointly owned property; and
• Buy out a joint tenant on a jointly owned property;

Frequently, a San Bernardino Partition Lawyer will be asked to divide inherited property. In that circumstance, a petition for partition may be filed any time before the court gives an order to distribute the inherited property. (Probate Code § 11951(b).) Probate Code section 11950 provides that where two more people have a right to distribution of shares of property, and have not agreed among themselves as to a division of that property, then any one of them can petition a court for an allotment or partition of property that will be fair. Under this statute, the court can partition not only real property (real estate) but also personal property.

In such an action, the partition can affect only interests in the property that are subject to the administration of the probate court. Indeed, one has a right to inheritance is not required to seek partition before the distribution of their interests. (Moore v. Lauff (1916) 30 Cal.App. 452.) Instead, they can pursue a civil partition action if that is what they are interested in doing.

If an heir seeks to partition inherited property, then generally an experienced San Bernardino Partition Lawyer will file a probate petition. The probate petition must describe the property, state the names of the persons having or claiming undivided interests, and describe the undivided interests as far as the owner is aware. (Prob. Code § 11951(b).) In such an action, the probate court acts just like the Superior Court would act in an action to partition property held under a tenancy in common. (In re Estate of Canfield (1951) 107 Cal.App.2d 682.)

If you find yourself dealing with inherited property, and a joint ownership of property relationship you would rather avoid, then San Bernardino Partition Lawyers at the Underwood Law Firm deal with these scenarios frequently and are ready to help.