Santa Rosa Partition Lawyers

Santa Rosa is the largest city in Sonoma County and the fifth most populous city in the Bay Area. As the central city in California’s famous Wine Country, Santa Rosa is known for having the best wineries and vineyards right in its backyard, with over 300 options to choose from. Santa Rosa was founded in 1833 and named after Saint Rosa of Lima. With the growth of the wine industry, many Santa Rosa citizens live in the condominium developments around town. When parties jointly purchase a condominium together, but cannot agree about its use, then a partition action may be a valid way to resolve joint ownership problems. A knowledgeable Santa Rosa Partition Attorney also knows that a court must occasionally order a partition by sale of a condominium.

A California partition action occurs when one co-owner of real property no longer wishes to hold joint ownership with another co-owner of real property for whatever reason. Each co-owner has, by law, the absolute right to divide the property and sell their portion with the remedy of partition. Santa Rosa Partition Attorneys usually find partition action to be the best remedy for disputing joint owners in four broad categories:

• Parent-Child shared tenants in common in real estate; 
• Brother-Sister shared tenants in common in real estate; 
• Investor-Investor shared tenants in common in real estate; and 
• Significant others shared tenants in common in real estate; 

In California, there is no bar to partition of a cotenancy in a condominium. (Civ. Code § 4610(a)). In a partition action of a condominium, the common areas remain undivided and not subject to judicial partition except as provided by law.

A court can order partition of a condominium project under Civil Code section 4610 but only by sale of the entire project. In such a case, the owner of a condominium in a condominium project may maintain an action for partition by sale of the entire project as if the owners of all of the condominiums in the project were tenants in common in the entire project in the same proportion as their interests in the common areas.

A partition by sale of a condominium project, however, shall only be ordered on a showing of one of the following [Civ. Code § 4610(b)]: (1) More than three years before the filing of the action, the project was damaged or destroyed so that a material part was rendered unfit for its prior use, and the 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 condominium owners holding in aggregate more than a 50-percent interest in the common areas oppose repair or restoration of the project. (3) The project has been in existence more than 50 years, is obsolete and uneconomic, and condominium owners holding in aggregate more than a 50-percent interest in the common areas oppose repair or restoration of the project. (4) The conditions for such a sale, set forth in the declaration, have been met.

In such cases, the court will request that the property be sold to the highest bidder and the profits divided among the parties equal to their interest in the property. A Santa Rosa Partition Lawyer will utilize this option when the partition by sale is more equitable for a co-owner than the division of the property.

At the Underwood Law Firm, our Santa Rosa Partition Attorneys are well versed in the legal remedy of partition and are ready to assist you.