What happens if you and your siblings inherit property from your parents, and you don’t agree on what to do with it? (what, siblings disagree?) Can you force the sale of the property?
In Tennessee, in many instances, the answer is yes, through an action called a partition.
This need often arises when a parent dies without a will, or their will divides their real estate, which might include a family home or the family farm, equally between children. In that case, each sibling would own the property as “tenants-in-common,” (also referred to as co-tenants) which means you each own an equal share of the entire property. All co-tenants have the right to use all of the property and share in any profits from it. When disagreements arise about how to use the property – say one sibling lives on the property and wants to stay, another wants to rent it out, and you want to sell it altogether – Tennessee law is clear that co-tenants have the right to partition real estate.