Arizona Parition Law

Arizona partition law states that when there are two parties who jointly own a piece of property or a building, and one of the parties no longer wishes to own it, that party has a right to compel a partition, or division, of the property. When you have an interest in land or buildings, and you no longer wish to be an owner, it is an absolute right of yours to divide the property and take your share. There are two means to doing this. The parties can either negotiate a voluntary division of the property, or they can go to court and a judge will determine the best manner for splitting the real estate.

In the state of Arizona, there are two ways to partition property: in kind or by sale. A partition in kind is a division of the physical property. Instead of the two parties both having the right to possess the whole property, a judge will carve out pieces and they will each be the sole owner of their own portion. In many situations, however, this does not work, so a partition will be made by selling the property at auction and allowing the parties to divide the proceeds. The division off property and proceeds will depend on the manner in which the parties took title to the land. Arizona has two major types of concurrent tenancies: joint tenants and tenants in common.

Arizona is also a title theory state, which means that a lender holds title to the property through a deed of trust while there is an outstanding mortgage. This means that the bank will be a necessary party to any partition litigation. If you wish to partition property that you co-own in Arizona, you need an experienced real estate partition attorney to guide you through this complicated process.