Long story short.....my father is one of 17 heirs (2 families) to land in Georgia. Two years ago several of the heirs entered into negotiations with an associate of theirs to sell the land. This was done without the knowledge and consent of the remaining heirs. They have an offer to purchase the land and all but my father have agreed to sell. The heirs have had no legal representation up to this point. and an independent appraisal or survey have not been done. My father believes that the offer is too low and does not want to sell. However, the heirs have indicated that they may petition the court to force him to sell. Can this be done? If so, what can he do? Any advice that you can give would be appreciated.
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Multiple heirs to property
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fredrikklaw
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He will have to sell!
Yes, it can be done!
Your farther and the other 16 "heirs" are tenants in common (or co-owners) of that piece of land and any of tenant can, as a matter of legal right, petition the court for an order to partition the property and there are two types of partitions.
The first is "partition in kind" which is a court-determination of percentage ownership and takes place when the co-owners are fighting amongst themselves and cannot agree on who holds what percentage of the property, so the court decides for them and divvies up the cake, so to speak. In the second scenario, the sale of the property is in dispute whereby one or more co-owners want to cash in their share of the property but the sale is held up by one or more of the other co-owners' refusal to sell. In such instances a petition is made with the court for a "partition by sale" where the court orders the sale of the property and the proceeds are distributed to the owners according to their percentage share.
Unfortunately, there is not much that your father can do to stop this process and he will be forced-to-sell by order of the court. But as a consolation, he may want to make certain of his share of the property and that the property is appraised right, and, that only the highest possible offer is accepted.
fredrikklaw
Yes, it can be done!
Your farther and the other 16 "heirs" are tenants in common (or co-owners) of that piece of land and any of tenant can, as a matter of legal right, petition the court for an order to partition the property and there are two types of partitions.
The first is "partition in kind" which is a court-determination of percentage ownership and takes place when the co-owners are fighting amongst themselves and cannot agree on who holds what percentage of the property, so the court decides for them and divvies up the cake, so to speak. In the second scenario, the sale of the property is in dispute whereby one or more co-owners want to cash in their share of the property but the sale is held up by one or more of the other co-owners' refusal to sell. In such instances a petition is made with the court for a "partition by sale" where the court orders the sale of the property and the proceeds are distributed to the owners according to their percentage share.
Unfortunately, there is not much that your father can do to stop this process and he will be forced-to-sell by order of the court. But as a consolation, he may want to make certain of his share of the property and that the property is appraised right, and, that only the highest possible offer is accepted.
fredrikklaw
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