BUSINESS OF FARMING
DIVIDING JOINTLY OWNED PROPERTY UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS OF PARTITION BY R O B E RT T U F T S AND KEN KELLEY
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ou, your brother and sister inherited the farm from your parents. That makes you tenants in common. You have an undivided interest in the property, meaning you each own a one-third interest in the entire farm. As such, you each have the right to use the entire farm and you can’t point to any portion of the farm as being yours. That also means you jointly manage the farm. What happens when the three of you can no longer agree? Joint owners can separate their interest in property through the process of partition. Partition can be either voluntary (the three
of you agree to a physical division and prepare deeds to transfer your one-third interest in two parcels to the other two) or involuntary through a court proceeding. An owner, no matter how small their interest, has the right to force the partition of the property. Maybe your brother died without a will and was survived by his spouse and three children from that marriage and two children from a previous marriage. A child that owns a 1/15th interest has the right to force the partition even if all the other owners vote against partition. There are two forms of partition, the traditional partition covered by Chapter 6 of
An owner, no matter how small their interest, has the right to force the partition of the property.
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Cooperative Farming News
