Division of Real Estate Estates
The division of real estate estates is one type of inheritance case. One or more heirs may petition the competent court to compel the division of the real estate estate among the heirs or to sell it at auction and distribute the proceeds from the sale.
Partition lawsuits arise when there is a dispute among the heirs regarding the division, or when the heirs wish to sell the real estate and there are minors among them.
These cases pertain specifically to real estate and do not include other assets of the estate—such as cash, bank deposits, stocks, vehicles, etc.—which require separate legal proceedings for their division.
In such cases, the real estate must be registered in the name of the decedent or a third party, there must be no dispute regarding its ownership, and ownership must be established by an official deed.
If the real estate estate of the decedent is registered in the name of one of the heirs or a third party, and a dispute has arisen among them regarding its ownership, and the decedent did not acknowledge this, then in this case the heirs must file a lawsuit against the person in whose name the real estate is registered before the General Court to prove that it belongs to their decedent.
The following requirements must be met in lawsuits for the division of real estate estates:
* A certificate listing all heirs must be provided.
* The real estate must be documented by an up-to-date deed, and all details regarding the property must be included.
* All heirs must be named as parties to the lawsuit.
* Full details regarding the heirs, the plaintiff, and the defendant must be provided.
