Can a property be sold by half?

She can file what is called a partition action to force the sale. However, most such cases get settled by the one who wishes to stay buying out the other. Have you offered to do that? Can you come up with funds?

Really, the deed has to be seen to be analyzed; but no, almost always what you have is an "undivided interest" in the property. You own your share of each of the bundle of rights that is ownership of land. Your sister can sue you for "partition," which will result in a court-ordered sale of the property (after a lot of expense). Buy your sister out of the property, or join in selling it, or it will cause you endless heartache and blow up your family.

She could sell her half interest in the property or she could go to court and, if feasible, ask the court to apportion the property so that she could sell her half. If you really don't want to sell, then you need to arrange to buy her half.

Leaving the family home to 2 adult children with the expectation that they will keep and use it almost always leads to problems. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for each child to benefit equally. How is the home going to be used? How will the costs of maintaining the home be paid? When or if each child has their own family, the home is often not big enough for each family to live there. To avoid disputes between children, it is much better to sell the home or have one child purchase the other child's interest in the home. When disputes arise over the use of the family home or whether it should be sold or kept, I've yet to see a judge rule that the home should be kept because of the problems and issues that arise in keeping the home. Your sister could choose to sell her half interest. However, this is seldom done by a co-owner because (1) few people are interested in buying a half-interest because of the problems that arise in owning only a half interest in property; and (2) The half of the sales proceeds the co-owner would receive if the property is sold as a whole is usually much greater than what would be received on sale of a half-interest. Also, this would not solve your problems because now you would have to deal with a new co-owner. When a co-owner doesn't agree to a sale of property, the other co-owner can bring a legal action to partition the property by sale. Instead of dividing the property in two, which usually can't be done on a family residence and lot, the court will order the property sold and the net proceeds divided between the two owners. The sale will be conducted by a referee appointed by the court. You may be able to buy the property during this process. However, its possible that there will be another party who will pay more for the property. There are all sorts of costs involved in this (attorneys fees, court costs, referee fees) and it is possible that court may order you to pay more or all of the costs if you were the one who was opposing the sale. The my last partition case there were 7 children. Only one child lived in th house. The other siblings came to me because she wouldn't cooperate in selling the house. I requested her cooperation or if she wanted to keep it, that she make an offer to buy out her brothers and sisters. I further warned her that if an action for partition by sale became necessary, I would request that court order the costs to be paid from her share She never made an offer to buy it and The court ordered the sale. An action to evict the daughter had to brought. After the sale, the judge ordered the daughter's share of the sales proceeds to be reduced by $18,000 to cover the costs of the action and eviction. If your sister wants to sell, but you want to keep the house, it would be best for you to offer to buy her one-half interest from her. Come to an agreement as to the value of the house. Obtain a loan if necessary. As a 50% owner of the house it should be much easier for you to obtain a loan to pay for your sister's half, then if you were buying a new home.

What typically happens in this kind of situation is that you would either buy out her share or the property would be sold and you split the proceeds.

You and your sister each have an indivisible right to the whole property. She may be able to sell her "half" but it's going to be difficult for her to find a buyer. The best solution is for you to buy out her share of ownership at fair market value.

Your sister would have to file a partition motion to get the court to order the sale of the property and the proceeds then divided equally. That might cost $15,000 to do.

It is suggested that you obtain a qualified appraisal of the value of the property; then you offer to buy out her one half; you may need legal representation to accomplish this suggestion; the alternate way is to force a sale of the property by filing a petition to partition the property forcing a sale through escrow, at which time you can also bid to buy out her half of the property at sale.