When One Co-Owner Won’t Sell: Forcing the Sale Through Partition (2026 Edition)

Elijah Underwood, Founder | Underwood Law Firm, P.C

Elijah “Eli” Underwood is the founder of Underwood Law Firm, P.C., a boutique California practice dedicated to partition actions, partnership disputes, and real estate law. A real estate investor as well as an attorney, Eli has built his practice around helping co-owners resolve difficult property relationships and move forward with their lives. His courtroom record and influence on California law have established him as a recognized authority in the partition field, and he is known for combining practical investor insight with disciplined, results-driven advocacy.

• Education & Credentials

Eli earned his Juris Doctor from UC Hastings (University of California College of the Law, San Francisco) in 2009, and has been admitted to practice law in California since the same year. He completed his Bachelor of Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2005. While in law school, he served as a board member of the school’s award-winning Negotiation Team, competing at the highest levels of national and international negotiation competitions.

• Recognition & Leadership

Eli’s work as an advocate has produced tangible results, including jury and bench trial victories and litigation efforts that have already contributed to changes in California state law. He has represented high-profile clients, including members of Congress, and his legal commentary has been featured by television and print media outlets such as KCESQ and the Palm Springs Desert Sun. Earlier in his career, he demonstrated his leadership both in student government at UC Santa Barbara and as an assistant to the Mayor of the City of Santa Barbara.

• Professional Involvement

Eli serves on the Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association Real Property Section, and he is the instructor on Partitions and Co-Ownership Relationships for the California Association of Realtors. He is a member of the Anthony M. Kennedy Inn of Court and a past President of Sacramento’s Active 20/30 Club No. 1, reflecting a sustained commitment to both his profession and his community.

• Experience

Eli began his legal career at a general practice firm, where he became a partner before departing to establish Underwood Law Firm, P.C., as a focused partition practice. Today, the firm handles hundreds of partition actions across California, with offices in Culver City, Sacramento, Newport Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco. His practice centers on partition actions, partnership disputes, real estate law, and civil litigation. Drawing on his dual perspective as an investor and litigator, Eli is widely valued by clients for his responsiveness, deep subject-matter knowledge, and ability to navigate complex, multi-party property disputes from filing through trial.

SESSION 1 – The Partition Framework: When Co-Ownership Deadlocks | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

The starting point for any partition matter: identifying when an absolute right to partition exists, who has standing as a cotenant, and how the action proceeds under Code of Civil Procedure section 872.210 and following. This session frames the deadlock scenarios attorneys see most and what the statute lets you do about them.

SESSION 2 – Partition by Sale vs. Partition in Kind | 1:10pm – 1:20pm

The threshold strategic choice. This session walks through when courts order a physical division versus a forced sale, the “great prejudice” standard, and how the Partition of Real Property Act reshaped the default analysis for property that can’t be cleanly divided.

SESSION 3 – The PRPA’s Appraisal and Cotenant Buyout Mechanics | 1:20pm – 1:30pm

The core of the 2023 reform. This session covers the mandatory court-ordered appraisal, the buyout right that lets a non-petitioning cotenant purchase the petitioner’s interest, the notice and election timelines, and how these provisions displace the old forced-auction reflex.

SESSION 4 – Forcing Resolution When Ex-Partners Can’t Agree on a Buyout | 1:30pm – 1:40pm

Unmarried co-owners who split with no exit agreement are the most common partition client. This session applies the framework to that fact pattern: filing the action, leveraging the buyout mechanism, and resolving the impasse without a fire-sale outcome for your client.

SESSION 5 – Partition When a Business Co-Ownership Sours | 1:40pm – 1:50pm

Jointly held investment or commercial property after a partnership breaks down. This session addresses the added wrinkles — entity considerations, competing contribution claims, and using partition to liquidate the asset when the co-owners can’t.

SESSION 6 – Inherited Property, the Referee Process, and the Accounting | 1:50pm – 2:00pm

Siblings deadlocked over an inherited house, plus the back-end mechanics every partition attorney needs: the referee’s role in a sale, and the accounting of contribution and offset credits (mortgage, taxes, repairs, rental value) that determines final distribution.