How Can I Force My Ex-Wife to Sign Papers Needed to Sell My Property?
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Answer:
The answer will depend on all the facts involved, such as whether she is in contempt of a court order to sell the property. If she is in violation of a court order, a motion for contempt may be filed. If not, it may be necessary to bring a partition action to determine the rights to or appraisal value of the property. A middle ground between partition by division and partition by outright sale is partition by appraisal. This latter method empowers one party, upon court approval, to purchase the other party’s interest at its market value.
A partition lawsuit is generally a remedy of last resort. It is almost always allowed by the court and, since judgment of one form or another is virtually assured, the parties should do their best to negotiate their own settlement without filing a partition action.
One non-judicial method often used for resolution is a procedure whereby the co-owners each appoint an appraiser to value the property. Various methods are used to average or weight the appraisals so as to determine a fair value. Co-owners may then have the right to buy out any other co-owner based on the appraised value, or else have the property placed on the market for sale at that value.