In most estates the house is worth more than anything else, and it’s the hardest asset to split. Usually one sibling lives there, another wants it sold, and nobody wants to be the person who files suit.
Since 2017, Texas has had a statute written for this exact situation. The Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act, codified as Property Code Chapter 23A, covers land that passed down through a family and is held as tenants in common with no agreement among the owners about dividing it.
Section 23A.002(5) defines heirs’ property as real property held in tenancy in common where no recorded agreement binds the cotenants on partition, one or more cotenants acquired title from a relative, and at least twenty percent of the interests or of the cotenants are relatives, or twenty percent is held by someone who took title from a relative.
When property meets that definition, the court has to follow the Chapter 23A procedure before it can order a sale.
The general partition statute lets any joint owner force the issue. Property Code Section 23.001 allows a joint owner to compel partition, and Section 23.002(a) puts the case in a district court of a county where any part of the property is located. Before Chapter 23A, a cotenant who wanted out could push the property to a sale and the others had little say in it.
Chapter 23A adds two steps that come first.
This buyout is usually how a family home stays in the family. The sibling who wants to keep it can line up financing against a number the court has already set, instead of trying to outbid investors at a sale.
The answer depends on whether the property is still tied up in an estate. A standalone partition suit goes to a district court in the county where the land sits, under Section 23.002(a). If there’s a pending administration in Dallas County, though, the fight may belong in probate court.
Estates Code Section 32.005(a) gives Dallas County’s statutory probate courts exclusive jurisdiction over probate proceedings, and Section 31.001(6) counts matters related to the partition or distribution of an estate as part of the probate proceeding. Section 31.002(c)(2) also treats any cause of action in which the personal representative of an estate pending in the statutory probate court is a party, in that capacity, as a matter related to the probate proceeding. Filing in the wrong court can cost months, so we sort out the forum at the start.
All three sit on the 7th floor of the George Allen Courts Building, 600 Commerce Street, Dallas, Texas 75202.
In a dependent administration, a sale of estate real estate can’t close without a court order. The steps are set by statute. Estates Code Section 356.251 says when the representative may apply for an order of sale, and Section 356.252 requires a verified exhibit showing the condition of the estate and the claims against it. Once there’s a successful bid or contract, Section 356.551 requires it to be reported to the court within thirty days, and under Section 356.552 the court looks into the sale after five days have passed from that report.
Buyers who don’t know about this timeline often get nervous a few weeks in and back out. We explain it to the buyer’s side early so the deal holds together.
Many of these cases turn out to be title problems more than family disputes. Usually someone died a generation or two back, their estate was never probated, and nobody noticed until a title company refused to insure a sale.
The fix is a judicial determination of heirship, which gives the title company a judgment it can rely on. Estates Code Section 202.008 requires that everyone shown in the deed records as owning an interest in the property be made a party. That requirement is often how a cousin nobody has heard from in years ends up in the case.
When one cotenant has lived in the property alone, the final accounting usually charges that person fair rental value for the time they had exclusive occupancy. Against that, they get credit for what they paid in taxes, insurance, mortgage payments and necessary repairs.
Most of the time these numbers get negotiated rather than tried. They can also end up driving the whole case, since the parties may be arguing over a decade of receipts by the end.
We regularly handle estates that own property in more than one of these counties.
Bring the deed and the most recent tax statement, along with a list of everyone you believe has an interest. The first consultation is short and free.