What is a Partition Action?

Proper procedure in every court filing is non-negotiable and inevitable in the justice system. This is no different with the court filings for Partition Actions — the below listed elements as documented in Florida Statutes must be included in an initial complaint of a Partition Action. A risk of invalidity would be incurred if any of these elements are missing from the Partition Action.

What is a Partition Action?

It is an action that becomes necessary when two people or more own a property. I.e. multiple owners who could have been co-workers, friends, siblings or even community neighbors decide to go their separate ways or because the property was left to more than one party in a will and the parties do not wish to co-own.

This action not only occurs in property. It also transcends to whenever any sort of thing is co-owned. Whenever the owners want to part ways, this is called action for partition and it is defined as the separation of jointly owned property either by division or sale.

There are two types of partition action. The first is partition in kind and this is also known as partition by division because what it does is to partition the said property between the involved parties meaning that there would be a physical boundary.

The second common type is partition by sale.

How to Create A Partition Action

To create a partition action, you need the following:

• A legal description of the property in question;
• The names and places of residence of the owners or any other party with an interest in the property;
• Each interested party’s percentage of interest;
• Any other matters as are necessary to enable the court to adjudicate the rights and interests of the parties, such as unknown additional parties, alternate agreements, or any other relevant factors;
• A specific request for relief, usually either complete ownership of the property in question or a percentage of the proceeds from its sale.

After the filling of the Complaint of Partition, is you should file a Lis Pendens for the property in question. The Lis Pendens is the Latin name for “suit pending” and this issue ascribes the real property in question as being under court action.

This move frustrates any form of transactions involving the property. The Lis Pendens practically “freezes” the property, therefore ensuring that no action involving the property is taken until a resolve is met.

The aim of a Partition Action filing is to settle all disputes involving the property. After the fillings, questions relating to the ownership of a piece of real property or sharing of revenue from selling are shared and all legal interest are satisfied.