How Can I Legally Get Out Of The Co-Ownership Of My Father’s Property?


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About 35 years ago my father signed over half of his share of land he owned with my mother to me. I want to sell this land but can’t find my mother with whom I’ve never been close, unfortunately. So my question is, how can I sell if I can’t find her?

I would first suggest trying pretty hard to find her, including possibly hiring a private investigator. That’s likely to be cheaper and easier than the alternative.

Legally, if you want out of a co-ownership situation and the other owner won’t (or can’t) cooperate, you would need to file what is known as a partition action. This is a court process for splitting up the co-owned property (or, in many cases, selling it and splitting the proceeds).

Note that your mother would be a party to that kind of lawsuit, so you’ll need to do the detective work either way.