Co-owners and inherited houses
Can my sibling force the sale of the house we inherited in California?
Based on an interview with Josué Cristóbal Guerrero, Founding Partner, recorded .
The short answer
Generally yes. Once title is in your names, any co-owner can go to court and force a sale or a buyout through what California calls partition. Before a court-ordered sale, the owners who did not ask for one usually get a chance to buy out the owner who did.
It's always fine to negotiate a buyout.
What can take the right away
Partition is a right of co-ownership, so a few things can limit it. A contract in which the owners agreed not to partition is one. A trust is another: if the house is still held in trust, the terms of that trust control, and the trustee rather than the siblings decides what happens to it.
Timing matters as well. If the house is still in a probate estate or a trust, nobody may hold title in their own name yet. The moment title is in your name and someone else's, that someone else can force a sale or a buyout.
Your right to buy them out
Under the Partition of Real Property Act, which applies to partition actions filed since January 1, 2023 where no written agreement binding all the co-owners says otherwise, the court determines the property's value. If an owner asks for a sale, the other owners then have 45 days from the court's notice to elect to buy that owner's share at that value.
Even when a sale goes ahead, usually on the open market through a broker, an owner can buy and take credit for their own share of the proceeds. And nothing stops the family from negotiating a buyout at any point.
- Code of Civil Procedure section 872.710. Partition of concurrent interests is a matter of right unless barred by a valid waiver.
- Code of Civil Procedure section 874.311. The Partition of Real Property Act covers tenancies in common with no agreement in a record governing partition, for actions filed on or after January 1, 2023.
- Code of Civil Procedure section 874.320. A court-ordered sale is an open-market sale unless sealed bids or an auction would serve the owners better, and a purchasing owner gets credit for their share.
- Code of Civil Procedure section 874.317. Co-owners who did not request a sale may elect, within 45 days of notice, to buy out those who did, at the court-determined value.
This answer is general information about California law and is not legal advice for any specific situation. Deadlines and exceptions turn on your facts. Code sections were checked against California Legislative Information on November 4, 2026.
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