Minnesota Partition Law
How To File A Partition Action In Minnesota To Protect Your Property Rights
A partition action is a lawsuit that is filed to divide a piece of property that is owned by two or more people. When co-owners no longer wish to reside together or own the property together, they have an absolute right to seek a partition by the courts of the state of Minnesota. There are two ways that owners can partition the property. They can either come to an agreement to voluntarily split the property by negotiating a contract, or they can file a petition for partition. In the partition action complaint in Minnesota, they must show that they own the property and no longer wish to, and the court will hear the case.
There are two ways to split property in Minnesota. Partitions in kind physically divide a tract of land between the parties. This is usually reserved for vacant land, as it would be impractical to split up residential properties. The other type is a partition by sale, which is more common, and is done by selling the land at auction and dividing the proceeds. In Minnesota, the land or the proceeds must be divided according to the tenancy the parties held when they owned the land. If they were joint tenants, the land must be divided equally. If they were tenants in common, it can be divided according to their ownership interest.
Minnesota is a title theory state, which means that the lenders or banks with a mortgage are a necessary party to any partition action in MN. If you own land in Minnesota and you need to divide your interest in the land from the interests of the other owners, you should speak with an experienced real estate partition attorney.