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ARTICLE · 28 MARCH 2014

Potential Sale Of Jointly Owned Property: Practicable Partition Is Somewhere Between Possible And Practical

Pepper Hamilton LLP
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A chapter 7 debtor owned real estate jointly with three other people as tenants in common. The chapter 7 trustee sought court approval to sell the entire property, as opposed to just the debtor’s tenant in common interest.

United StatesReal Estate and Construction
Vicki Harding
Vicki Harding

Higgason v. Brown (In re Brown),506 B.R. 446 (Bankr. E.D. Ky. 2014) –

A chapter 7 debtor owned real estate jointly with three other people as tenants in common. The chapter 7 trustee sought court approval to sell the entire property, as opposed to just the debtor's tenant in common interest.

The debtor and his wife listed a 50% interest in real estate described as "125.8 acres rough land" in their bankruptcy schedules. The chapter 7 trustee and the debtors settled a dispute regarding claimed exemptions in the property and agreed to liquidate the non-exempt portion for the benefit of the estate.

Section 363(h) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that if a bankruptcy estate has an undivided interest in property as a tenant in common, the trustee can sell the interests of both the estate and any co-owner if (and only if):

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