Guide · Wills and Estates

Heirs Property and Partition: A Comprehensive Guide to Tenancy in Common, Partition Actions, and the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act

28 U.S.C. § 1332

Type
Guide
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2024-03-21
Topic
Wills and Estates

A working guide to heirs property and partition for counsel representing a family, a cotenant, or a purchaser. Part one covers how heirs property is created and what tenancy in common actually entails. Part two covers the rights and obligations among cotenants, including contribution, ouster, and adverse possession. Part three covers the traditional partition action and its economics. Part four works through the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act step by step. Part five covers defending a partition action. Part six covers title clearing — heirship determination, probate routes, quiet title, and recording. Part seven covers entity structures, tax consequences, and program access. Part eight covers bankruptcy, tax sales, condemnation, and the fractionation analogue in allotted Indian land.

Heirs Property and Partition: A Comprehensive Guide to Tenancy in Common, Partition Actions, and the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act

Wills and Estates > Heirs Property and Partition | Published 21 March 2024 - Updated 26 May 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

Orientation

Five propositions organize this field:

  1. Heirs property is created by intestacy plus time, not by any single bad act, and it compounds at every death.
  2. The smallest cotenant holds the most disruptive power — any fractional owner may force a partition.
  3. Partition by sale historically operated as a below-market forced sale, which is the problem the Uniform Act addresses.
  4. The Act does not abolish partition; it inserts appraisal, buyout, and an in-kind preference, and requires an open-market sale as the last resort.
  5. Title clearing is genealogy plus probate plus recording, in that order, and the largest cost is the first.

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