7/1/24
I have expanded my work with other attorney firms in California doing more court work as a referee on partitions. If you don't know, partitions occur when there are multiple owners of a property and one forces the sale. Typically this would be siblings that inherit a property and one or more want to sell and one doesn't. When this happens, every party has the right to buy out the others portion; however, usually the are looking to sell the property and take their proceeds from the sale. It's usually the one living in the house for free that doesn't want to sell. Shocker!
There are other situations where a boyfriend/girlfriend buy a house then break up. Both on the loan and tied to the property and not able to afford another property. It can also be business partners where they went into a property together then one side is looking to dissolve the relationship.
I've been assigned over 20+ referee roles in partitions. The one thing that's slightly unique is that I'm also the listing broker when it comes time to sell these properties. This is not the norm but there are advantages to this. As the referee, I have the court authority to take control of the property. Often times I might need to evict an owner, change the locks and put utilities in my name. Similar to a foreclosure but I have power of attorney. I say that loosely, but it's similar. I set the price to sell the property, sign the contract and the deed to close escrow.
Partition sales are not that common but there's enough of them going on where this has become a niche that I am happy to be involved with. Most brokers and real estate agents have no clue these even exist. I have to explain this on a daily basis. As a referee in Sacramento I bring confidence and experience to the table that councilors are looking for.
Often times the estate has no money, other than the proceeds of the sale. I'm willing to come out of pocket to pay for trash outs, repairs and inspections if it's deemed necessary. I do get reimbursed at closing for those expenses of course, but often times expenses are needed to get the property sold.
I'm working with 7 different law firms that regularly come across partitions. I have my resume updated for them to submit to the court with my recommendation. There are times I have to report to the judge or appear. There is a process that the referee needs to. Attorneys are representing their clients and as a referee I'm involved in the accounting process. Every partition is different! The circumstances can be convoluted. The referee needs to assist in the division of proceeds upon the sale. The accounting phase is done when proceeds are sent to a broker trust acct and we're finalizing the disbursement of funds. I'm working one now where I thought we had a solid agreement in place and one attorney is in disagreement with my decision. I'm running it by our in house council here at Re/Max Gold per the request of said attorney in disagreement. Again, they are all different! The one factor that seems to be consistent is the defendant not being cooperative. This is the part of the job that can be tricky! Often times these are emotional situations and logic doesn't work. I try my best to work with folks with in reason. It's only been a couple times where I needed to get the sheriff involved.
If you have questions about the process or are looking for a referee that has been doing these for 10+ years, give me a call.
Chad Phillips
Remax Gold
916-390-1476
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