I've been left land along with 2 other siblings. I want to have my third surveyed off before its deeded as a whole with all of us listed on ...

Question

I've been left land along with 2 other siblings. I want to have my third surveyed off before its deeded as a whole with all of us listed on a deed. Is it legally possible to have a third of it surveyed off and deeded to me alone without surveying the entire parcel? Its been surveyed many years ago.

Answer

This seems to be related to the other question so I will repeat my answer:

Generally, there is no right to separation of inherited property. The land is transferred to the heirs and its up to them as to what they want to do with it. However, I can tell you from experience that it is a BAD idea for multiple people to own a piece of real property when they are not married unless all property owners can agree all the time on everything (like maintenance, taxes, insurance and use of the land).

The property either should be sold or subdivided so each person can do what they want with their acres. However, you want your piece parceled off and are only willing to pay for that. The problem with land is that land is unique and many times it cannot be fairly divided (one part may have a house or a creek or a swamp or timber).

Can your brother & sister hold this up? Sure. They can refuse to sign the deeds after you spend all of this money getting your acreage surveyed. If they do, then your only remedy would be to seek a partition of the property and have your 1/3rd of the land separated off or else have your siblings buy out your 1/3rd share. Might be the same result just making you spend even more money when all is said and done - when you look at it that way - what would a partition action cost if your siblings decided to get ugly versus giving them what they want and spending a few more dollars to have their land surveyed and subdivided. What if they gave you a few more acres to compensate for these extra costs? Of course they would have to be willing to do this.

What is the property worth? Is it vacant land? Where is it? What are the plans for it? Who paid for the brother's $5000 debt? Your sister has no money. What is her plans for the land? Is the land more valuable if sold as an intact parcel? How is your sister going to pay for her share of the taxes if she has no money?

Don't answer me - I do not need to know the answers. But you need to be thinking about some or all of these things and be discussing them an attorney.