Attorney Thomas B. Burton answers a reader question about the reader's options for selling a condo owned jointly with another person when the other person does not want to sell.
Transcript of Video: How Can I Sell a Joint Ownership Property When My Partner Does Not Want To?
Today's question comes from Madison
Wisconsin and it's the following how can
I sell a joint ownership property when
my partners plural does not want to do
it and the property is now in a transfer on
death deed to his son so here's the
background my partner and I own a condo
in Madison Wisconsin so it sounds like
just one partner I've been trying for
years to sell it to him but he refuses
to buy me out now he has set up a
transfer on death deed to his son as his
beneficiary and to avoid the sell
without my consent I need to know how to
proceed to liquidate the property to
force him to buy me out I do not want to
wait until he dies to be able to sell it
I am 65 years old and he is 70 so it
sounds like there's a few things going
on here but if you own this property as
joint ownership as tenant in common with
this partner then he or she has the
right to dispose of their interest as
they wish that includes them putting
that transfer on death deed on the
property where saying upon your
partner's death his interest in the
property passes to his son that
transfer on death deed only takes effect
if and when he dies as you realize so
that's why he is able to do that without
triggering some sort of sale clause you
mentioned my question for you would be
do you have this inside an LLC or
partnership because then you could refer
to the operating agreement it might
cover what happens when you have a
dispute like this if not if you just own
it outright with this one other person
you may need to petition the court in
Dane County for what we call a partition
action and ask the judge to divide the
property in this case if it's a condo it's
unlikely they could divide it meaning
literally you know cut it in half so the
judge would likely order a sale so I
suggest you talk with a local real
estate attorney about your options
because you may need to do this
partition action
if you truly want to force your partner
to buy you out. Great question and thank
you for asking!
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