Your brother will not sell. Your sister will not answer her phone. The taxes keep coming, and the only advice anybody has given you is to look into a partition lawsuit Texas families file when nobody can agree on an inherited house. You do not want to sue your own family. You also do not want to wait forever.
I’m Raul Bolufe. My company buys inherited houses and heir shares across Texas. I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. It is what we have seen on our deals.
I am not going to walk you through the courtroom side. A real estate attorney can do that, and if you go that way, you should hire one. What I can tell you is what it looked like on our deals when one heir would not sign. What the escalation looked like. What it cost families in time and stress. And why most of the heirs who call me would rather sell their piece than file a partition lawsuit Texas courts have to sort out.
Names are left out. Every story here comes from our own files.
What is a partition lawsuit Texas families keep hearing about?
Here is the kitchen table version, the way I explain it on the phone.
When a house is owned by several people, nobody owns a bedroom. Nobody owns the kitchen. Each of you owns a slice of the whole thing. In plain words, a partition lawsuit Texas heirs file is one of those owners asking a judge to sort it out, either by splitting the property or by having it sold so everybody gets their piece of the money.
That is all I am going to say about how it works. A real estate attorney can tell you the rest, and for your family, they should.
What I can add is this. On our deals, the papers the outside attorneys we work with filed were not always about splitting a property. Some were about who had been paying the taxes. I am not going to pretend I know the difference better than they do. From the family’s side, it all felt the same. Somebody got served, and things started moving.
Can siblings force a sale of an inherited house?
This is the top question I get on calls right now, usually in this form. “Only three of the five of us want to sell. Why can’t I sell it?”
Here is what we have seen. To sell the whole house to a normal buyer, the title company wants every owner on the paperwork. If one heir will not sign, the whole house sits. A partition lawsuit Texas heirs file is the court road around that one person.
But here is the part people do not expect. In our files, the threat of a partition lawsuit Texas attorneys could file moved people more than court itself. As I have told my team, all the lawsuits we have done in Texas have not gone all the way. We have ended up settling.
So can your siblings force a sale with a partition lawsuit Texas courts hear? That is a question for a real estate attorney. Can one heir stop you from selling your own piece? On our deals, no. We buy individual shares even if not everyone agrees. That is a different sale, and most families do not know it exists. Here is how to sell your share of an inherited house in Texas.
What does a partition lawsuit Texas families file cost them?
No dollar figures here, on purpose. I do not set any attorney’s fees, and every case is different. What I can describe is who pays and how it feels.
Somebody has to hire the attorney. When the family files a partition lawsuit Texas courts hear, the family pays. In a lot of families, that somebody is the sibling who cares the most and has the least.
Somebody has to wait. A partition lawsuit Texas families file runs on a calendar you do not control. On the cases we have seen, months is normal. And the house does not stop costing money while you wait. The taxes keep running. The lawn keeps growing. The city keeps sending letters.
Somebody has to sue their own family. This is the cost nobody puts on an invoice. Your name is on the papers. Your sister gets served at her door. Then Thanksgiving happens.
Here is what we usually see, even when we are the ones sending the letters and not the family. A letter lands, and the phone starts ringing. People get upset, and they call whoever they can reach, sometimes a relative who already sold. Those are hard calls. Now picture the same calls with your own name on the letter.
That is why, when the family files the partition lawsuit Texas heirs talk about, the money is only part of the bill.
Why do most heirs not want to file one?
From what I hear on the phone, heirs pass on a partition lawsuit Texas attorneys could file for them for a few reasons.
- They do not have the money to front. Attorneys want to be paid whether or not the house ever sells.
- They do not want to sue their brother. Most people who call me are not looking for a fight. They want out.
- They do not want to wait. A court case can outlast everybody’s patience.
- The holdout is often not the villain. More often than not, the last person standing is scared or hurt, not greedy.
That last one matters. In West Columbia, the relative who would not respond did not want a dime. She had not believed she was an heir or that any of this was real. Once it was real, she signed. In Odessa, on Walnut Ave, three sisters had not spoken to each other in ten years. Nobody in that family was greedy. They were hurt, and that is a different thing.
Nobody has ever called me because their inheritance was going smoothly.
How do we deal with a holdout heir?
Once you sell your share to us, the holdout is not your problem anymore. It is ours. You signed, you got paid, and your part is over. A recorded deed is a recorded deed. The holdout’s mood does not change it.
Then we work it, in this order. We always try to solve it without attorneys at first.
- Calls and texts. Clint, Richard, Rachel, and I call. We explain who we are and what we own now.
- Letters. A plain letter from our office, explaining where things stand.
- Something human. On one house in Porter, we sent flowers. Sometimes a kind gesture beats a certified letter.
- A notice at the house. When an owner lives there or a relative does, we post a notice that the ownership has changed. A runner posts it on the door. It gets attention.
- A demand letter from our attorney. First by certified mail. When it sits at the post office, and it often does, we send a process server. As I told my team, a process server is a human. It is a person knocking on your door and handing you the paper.
- A petition in court. Last resort. The outside attorneys we work with file it, and we pay for it. On some deals, we paid part of the taxes first, so the record shows who has been carrying the house.
Most of the time it ends somewhere in the middle of that list. Every step costs us money, so we never skip to the end for fun. A partition lawsuit Texas families would have to file themselves is the step we take on, so you never have to.
What happened on our deals when one heir would not sign?
Here are three from our own files where court, or the threat of a partition lawsuit Texas heirs dread, was on the table. All three are finished.
West Columbia, the one that went fast. The family thought a six figure lien meant they had to give the house to the city. Most of the heirs signed with us. One relative in Pearland did not respond to anything. A certified letter sat at the post office with a notice on her door. So our attorney sent a process server and then filed a petition. A few weeks after the filing, she signed, and she signed for free. As I said to my team later, we won that case very easily. Then we settled the lien for a small fraction and sold the house.
Odessa, ten years of silence. On Walnut Ave, three sisters had not spoken in ten years. One of them sold us her third from a hospital bed in Fort Worth. The other two were not excited to hear from a company that now owned their sister’s piece. Our attorney sent a letter explaining where things stood. About two weeks later, both sisters signed. No courtroom. We sold the house a few weeks after that.
Richmond, the man who thought he owned it all. One heir was sure the whole house was his. It was not. What changed his mind was not a lawsuit. It was the math. He did not own all of it, and the back taxes came off the top. Once he understood his share was a piece of what was left, he agreed. We closed.
Only one of those three ever saw a courtroom, and even that one ended with a signature, not a trial.
Should you file a partition lawsuit yourself?
Maybe. Whether a partition lawsuit Texas heirs file makes sense depends on what you want.
If you want to keep the house, or you own most of it and have the money and patience to see a case through, talk to a real estate attorney. That is their job, not mine. If you want to keep it and buy your brother out instead, read how to buy out a sibling’s share of an inherited house in Texas.
If you just want out, a partition lawsuit Texas heirs file on their own is the long way around. Selling your share is the short one. You get paid, and the fight becomes ours.
And if everybody actually agrees, skip all of this. Here is how we buy inherited houses for cash in Texas.
One more thing about the house itself. Houses that sit in a family fight tend to pick up baggage. Back taxes, liens, code letters. Once you sell to us, liens and violations become our problem. We call, we negotiate, we pay. Property taxes and IRS liens are different. Those get paid, not negotiated. But you are not the one paying them. Here is how we handle an inherited house with back taxes in Texas.
File it yourself, sell your share, or wait: side by side
Here is how filing a partition lawsuit Texas courts hear stacked up against the other two choices on our deals. It is not legal advice, and your family can be different.
| File a partition yourself | Sell your share to us | Wait | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who pays the attorney | You do. | We do, if it ever gets that far. | Nobody, for now. |
| Who deals with the holdout | You do, and your name is on the papers. | We do. Calls, letters, demand letters, court as a last resort. | Nobody. That is the problem. |
| How long it takes | Varies. Months is normal on the cases we have seen. | Varies. It moves as fast as you sign. | As long as the holdout wants. |
| Stress on the family | High. You are suing a relative. | You are out of it once you sign. | Low today, high every time the tax bill comes. |
| Taxes and liens | Keep running while the case runs. | Become ours. Liens get negotiated. Taxes get paid. | Keep running. |
| When you get paid | When the case ends and the house sells, if it sells. | After your deed is recorded. | Not until something changes. |
What this means for you
- A partition lawsuit Texas families file is the court road around one heir who will not sign. On our deals, it was the last resort, not the first move.
- You do not need the holdout’s permission to sell your own piece. That is a different sale.
- The cost of filing is more than money. It is months, and it is your name on a lawsuit against your family.
- Most holdouts we have seen were scared or confused, not greedy. Paper and patience moved more of them than court did.
- Once you sell to us, the holdout, the taxes, the liens, and any lawsuit become ours.
- If you want to keep the house or you own most of it, talk to a real estate attorney.
The short version
- A partition lawsuit is one owner asking a judge to sort out a property several people own.
- On our deals, the family never had to file a partition lawsuit Texas courts would hear. When it came to court, we did the filing.
- Our order is calls, letters, something human, a notice on the door, an attorney’s demand letter, and then court.
- West Columbia went to court and the holdout signed for free. In Odessa, two sisters signed after one letter. In Richmond, the math did it.
- In our experience, the threat of court settled more than court did.
- Liens and violations become ours once you sell. Property taxes and IRS liens get paid, not negotiated.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a partition lawsuit Texas families file take?
It varies, and I am not the right person to give you a number. On the cases we have seen, it was months, not weeks. A real estate attorney can tell you more about your county.
Can one heir stop the whole family from selling?
On our deals, one heir could hold up a sale of the whole house to a normal buyer. One heir could not stop anybody else from selling their own share to us.
Do I have to sue my brother or sister to get out?
No. You do not have to file a partition lawsuit Texas courts hear to get out. You can sell your share and let us handle what comes next. If it ever goes to court, the outside attorneys we work with file it, and your name is not on it.
What if the holdout lives in the house?
Here is what we usually do. We post a notice at the house, send letters, and work with our attorney. We do not change the locks. Cath, the paralegal we work with, has warned us that locking out another owner can start a new fight. When the person living there is not an owner, it is simpler. On Walnut Ave, a family friend living in the house took cash to move out.
Will the holdout still get paid?
On our deals, the holdout got the same kind of offer everyone else got. In West Columbia, she did not want money and signed for free. On Walnut Ave, the two sisters got the same kind of offer their sister got.
Who pays the back taxes while all this is going on?
Once you sell to us, we do. Property taxes get paid, not negotiated. Other liens and violations we negotiate and pay.
If you own a piece of an inherited house and one heir will not sign, call or text me at 936-380-6384, or fill out the form. Tell me the address and who passed away. You do not have to file a partition lawsuit Texas heirs dread. The holdout can be our problem.
Find out what your share is worth
No cost and no obligation. Tell us the address and the best number to reach you, and someone from my team will call you.
"*" indicates required fields
About the author
Raul Bolufe has bought and sold real estate since 2012, closed more than 800 deals, and paid more than 100 heirs for their share of inherited property across Texas and Florida. He hosts the Flipping Miami Podcast. More at raulbolufe.com.
Read next
- Sell your share of an inherited house in Texas
- Buy out a sibling’s share of an inherited house in Texas
- Buy inherited houses for cash in Texas