Undeveloped land is 75% owed by 1 person & 25% by another. The 25% owner has not paid Property Taxes or Assoc. fees for 6 years. The 75% owner wants

Where anywhere in the State of California is there a piece of land worth only $4500.00? Unless the other owner can somehow be persuaded to either buy you out or sell, the only remedy the law provides is for you to sue the other owner to partition the property in order to force its sale. The court filing fee is $435.00. The fee to have a registered process server formally deliver the lawsuit papers to the other side is $75.00. Preparing the papers will cost about $500.00. I recommend that a litigation guaranty be purchased from a title company, in order to make sure the other side is exactly and correctly identified in the lawsuit papers. That will cost $100.00-$200.00. And that's just the opening round to start the lawsuit. If the property is really only worth $4500.00 and you don't want anything to do with it, maybe you should offer to just give it to the other owner for free. Another choice would be to stop paying the property taxes and association fees, and let the association forelcose on the property. If the other owner really wants to hold onto the property, he'll have to start paying the association fees and property taxes. If the association doesn't foreclose, then the tax collector will sell the property after the taxes have not been paid for 5 years. I don't believe the land is worth ony $4500.00. There's more to this story that you need to tell in order to get good advice. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack