More on co-ownership here: Rights of a Co-owner
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A co-owner may demand at any time the partition of the thing owned in common in so far as his share is concerned
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Co-owners may agree to keep the thing owned in common for a certain period of time
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A donor or testator may prohibit the division or partition of the donated property
Majority of the co-owners demanding for the partition of thing owned in common or not. It doesn’t really matter.
This is because any co-owner may demand partition of the thing owned in common in so far as his share is concerned. Thus, the remaining co-owners may still continue with the co-ownership if they so desire. The point is, no co-owner is obliged to remain in the co-ownership as one among the rights of a co-owner is to demand at any time partition of the thing owned in common.
Are there limitations on the right of a co-owner to demand partition?
The law says:
Yes.
Partition may not be possible within a certain period of time. Such as when a donor or testator prohibited the partition of the property donated for a certain period of time. Take note that for the said prohibition to be valid, it must be for a period not exceeding twenty (20) years.
Thus, if a testator has prohibited the partition of the property donated for thirty (30) years, only the prohibition up to twenty (20) years is valid. This means that on the day following the twentieth (20th) year of the prohibition, any of the co-owners may now demand for the partition.
However, even though forbidden by the testator, the co-ownership may still be terminated when any of the causes for which partnership is dissolved takes place, or when the court finds for compelling reasons that division should be ordered. This may happen only when a petition for the dissolution of co-ownership was filed by one of the co-heirs.
Another, partition may not be possible when the co-owners themselves have agreed to keep the thing undivided for a period not exceeding ten (10) years. This term may be extended by a new agreement.
In addition, co-owners cannot demand a physical division of the thing owned in common, when to do so would render it unserviceable for the use for which it is intended. In such a case, when the thing owned in common is essentially indivisible and the co-owners cannot agree that it be allotted or sold to one of them who shall indemnify the others, the thing owned in common shall be sold and its proceeds be proportionately distributed to the co-owners.
Lastly, co-owners cannot demand partition when it is expressly prohibited by law.
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
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