Partition Actions · Las Vegas
Your co-owner won't sell.
You are not stuck.
Maybe you inherited a house with your brother and he won't move out or buy you out. Maybe you and an ex bought a place together and now it's four years later. Maybe your business partner won't agree to sell the building.
You own it. You can't sell it. Someone else is deciding your money for you.
Nevada law has an answer for this, and it is more direct than most people expect: one co-owner can force the sale of jointly owned property. You do not need their agreement. You do not need their permission. It is called a partition action.
Why bring this to me
A partition case doesn't end with a ruling. It ends with a property being valued and sold.
I have been licensed in Nevada real estate since 1987, have held a broker's license since 2005, and have bought and sold more than 2.2 million acres of land. I have practiced law in Las Vegas since 1998.
Most lawyers who file these have never sold a property in their lives. The back half of your case — what it's worth, how it sells, what the proceeds actually look like — is the half I've spent thirty-nine years on.
How the case runs
From filing to a divided property
The work begins before anything is filed. We read the deed and the title record to confirm exactly who holds an interest and in what share, review the loan documents, and collect the payment history that shows who has actually been carrying the property. That groundwork decides how strong your position looks on day one, and it is the part co-owners most often skip.
From there the case is filed against the other owners, they respond, and the matter moves toward the questions that actually matter to you: what the property is worth, how it gets divided or sold, and how the money is accounted for among the owners. Resolution can come at any point along the way — many co-ownership standoffs break once the issues are on the table with documents behind them — and the case is built to be decided by the court if your co-owner will not deal.
The money questions
Mortgage payments, taxes and repairs you covered alone
In most co-ownership disputes, one owner has been paying more than the other — covering the mortgage so the loan does not go into default, paying the property taxes and insurance, replacing the roof or the air conditioning. The other owner may have paid nothing for years. Those imbalances are usually the reason a co-owner finally picks up the phone, and they are the part of the case most worth preparing for.
Start gathering records now, while they are easy to get. The owner who arrives with a clean, documented history of what was paid and when is in a materially better position than the owner relying on memory.
- 01Mortgage statements and proof of who sent each payment
- 02Property tax records and insurance premium notices for the years in question
- 03Invoices, receipts and contractor records for repairs and improvements
- 04The dates any co-owner has occupied the property and what they paid during that time
- 05Any written agreement the owners made when the property was acquired or inherited
Common Questions
Partition actions in Nevada — the questions people actually ask
Answers to the questions almost every caller has.