HB1755: Property; directs the court to consider certain factors when it orders a partition.

Legislative Summary

Partition of property. Directs the court to consider certain factors when it orders a partition in kind, including (i) evidence of the collective duration of ownership or possession of any portion of the property by a party and one or more predecessors in title or predecessors in possession of the property who are or were related to the party; (ii) a party's sentimental attachment to any portion of the property, including any attachment arising because such portion of the property has ancestral or other unique or special value to the party; (iii) the lawful use being made of any portion of the property by a party and the degree to which the party would be harmed if the party could not continue the same use of such portion of the property; and (iv) the degree to which a party has contributed to the physical improvement, maintenance, or upkeep of any portion of the property. The bill also provides that counsel for a party to a partition action may serve as a commissioner unless there is an objection by another party; current law requires commissioners to be disinterested and impartial and not a party to or participant in the partition action. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.