Relationship Over/ Property In Both Our Names

[Jaynel]

I hope someone will help me know my rights. :yes:My boyfriend and I bought a piece of land together. Both of our names are on the Deed. Is 4 acres ,just land (wooded) except for an old trailer and an old shack that both need to be leveled and take up maybe 1 acre. We have both been cleaning and burning to get rid of a lot of debris left behind. 3 acres are beautiful wooded land. The loan is in my boyfriend's name. Mike. For $24,000. We each couldn't have had this land without the other. He put the loan (money) into it but I did all the paperwork and dealing with the attorney and was a 10 month journey I pursued mostly by myself. The owner was in prison, the land not even advertised for sale and I wrote to him and kept in contact with him and badgered : :yes: the nice attorney. He really worked hard on this too since there were liens and complications. The fact is, we broke up. I feel like an idiot that I didn't see it coming.
Anyhow, CAN I FORCE HIM TO SELL OR BUY IT FROM ME? I don't want the land if I'm not with Mike and I think he will want it. It was appraised at $90,000 and I worked hard to bring this transaction about. WHAT WOULD BE A FAIR AMOUNT? I am not one to take advantage of anyone but I worked hard to do this and I want what is right and fair and good. I procured this land but Mike put the money ( loan ) in it. ??????? PLEASE HELP. Thank you for any time and considerations.....Sincerely.....Jayne.....

 

[dee_dub]

Are you sure doing the paperwork and dealing with the attorney to purchase a $90,000 piece of property is worth $24,000? I know attorneys can be hard to deal with, but still... Assuming it is, what's fair is you split the property 50/50. Your share is worth $45,000.

Generally, as a co-owner you have the right to sue for partition of the property. These actions tend to settle with one owner buying the other out. I speculate that you may have a difficult time agreeing on a property value, real estate prices being what they are, and your ex may have a tough time coming up with $45K, the lending market being what it is. If you want out, you may have to sell cheap.

 

[Jaynel]

Thank you for responding. Mike said he didn't want to sell the property. He wants to keep it. I told him he could buy me out for $20,000. He laughed at me and said he wasn't paying me anything. WHAT IF I SIT ON THE SITUATION FOR YEARS and he does improvements? I would rather he just pay me $20,000 now and I get out of it. IF I DON'T ACT ON IT NOW AS FAR AS LEGALLY GETTING OUT, WILL IT COME BACK TO KICK ME IN THE ---??? I wish he would stop work on the land until we settle this but he loves doing the physical work and he is continuing to work on the land. Cleaning and clearing. Yes, we are in an economic crisis in the U.S but this land will continue to go up in value through the years. Is prime land and in the country yet close to everything. AND IN FLORIDA. He would be wise to buy me out( I think ) but is being stubborn about it. It might come back to bite HIM.
To sum it up...my question is...can I just do nothing right now, let it ride or should I act on it??? Will it hurt anything to let it ride. I want to procrastinate for now. Mistake???
Thank you for your time and input. Sincerely...Jayne.....

 

[dee_dub]

If you don't need to sell the property now, whether or not you should continue to own it is basically a financial question. Do you want to incur the continued costs of ownership, or can you get Mike to agree to bear your share? Frankly I would be leery of the situation. You might wind up being liable for back property taxes, etc. If you do sit on the property, do nothing and let Mike continue to work on it, and sell at some point in the future, you'll be entitled to your share of the proceeds minus whatever improvements Mike has done to the property.

Ultimately you hold the hammer - if you don't like the situation, go to court for an order for partition, and get out that way.