I am recently married and my wife moved out of her condo and in with me, her husband. My wife is a joint tenant in the condo with her sister and they have the following arrangement:

 They paid equal down payments and make equal mortgage payments.
 There is no documented co-tenant agreement on how to divide the property in the event one wanted to leave
 They have an ambiguous verbal agreement that the one who leaves first can keep the property as an investment.
 Verbal agreement did not exclude renting out the property in case one wanted to leave.
 They did not discuss payment of closing costs if one or both decided to sell.

We have been as accommodating as possible and have offered to keep the condo as an investment and rent out her room to offset her share of the mortgage or sell the condo if her sister wishes. Her sister will not put up with a roommate. She claims that we are forcing her to sell and therefore wants us to pay all closing costs associated with selling the condo plus closing costs associated with her purchasing a replacement condo. Prior to wanting all closing costs, she wanted all equity in the house but has since given up that ground.

We are arguing that she is leaving of her own free will. It’s her choice to stay or to leave. We are not forcing her one way or another. If she wants to stay we’ll keep the property as an investment and offset the mortgage with rent from a tenant or if she wants to leave we’ll agree to sell. We’ll accommodate either scenario. It’s not an investment if we can’t rent it out.

Family mediation has been on-going for greater than six months and it has been unsuccessful. We (the newlyweds) made a good faith offering to pay twice the sales closing costs as she. This was viewed as totally inadequate.

We have already lost $10,000 in mortgage payments that we have not been able to offset with rent because her sister will not come to a rational agreement and she has threatened to be hostile to anyone that we may choose to place as a tenant.

Who is responsible for closing costs and what are our options?

Without a written agreement to the contrary, each has a 50 percent ownership. Either one has the right to sell out for whatever a buyer will pay for the 50 percent interest.

Without a written agreement to the contrary, each has a 50 percent ownership. Either one has the right to sell out for whatever a buyer will pay for the 50 percent interest.

And, I might add, time for a partition lawsuit.

Given that what is meant, what is said and what is understood can all be very different things when communicated verbally, it sure seems to me that a highly unusual arrangement whereby one can keep the condo as an investment “without the possibility of offsetting the mortgage with rent from a tenant” would most certainly require documentation to eliminate any ambiguity or misunderstanding. Leaving out that qualifier completely changes the nature of the transaction.

Given then that each own a 50% share in the condo and given that it might be hard to sell only her 50%, it seems like partition is the only remaining option. How long does a partition action take, what does it generally cost and who is responsible for closing costs and legal fees?