If you own a home with someone you no longer want to own it with — an ex-partner, a sibling, an adult child, a former business partner — you have the right to get out. In Utah, a co-owner can force the sale of a single-family home or condominium through a partition action. The question almost every prospective client asks first is: what will that cost me?
Most lawyers answer with a shrug and an hourly rate. Below is a real budget instead.
The short answer
A partition action that proceeds in the ordinary course, without a serious fight, runs roughly $9,000 to $9,500 in fees and costs. Here is where that number comes from, phase by phase.
Phase one: filing through the hearing — about $5,500 – $6,000
This is the heart of the case, and it is front-loaded.
| Task | Time | Fee/Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Draft the complaint for partition and declaratory judgment | 2.0 hrs | |
| Prepare the summons | 0.25 hrs | |
| Court filing fee | — | $375.00 |
| Service of process (less if service is accepted) | — | $115.00 |
| Lis pendens recording fee | — | $40.00 |
| Attorney’s lien recording fee | — $40.00 | |
| Review the answer against the complaint | 1.0 hr | |
| Prepare the motion for summary judgment | 2.0 hrs | |
| Review the opposition memorandum, if any | 2.0 hrs | |
| Reply in support of summary judgment (often unnecessary) | 5.0 hrs | |
| Request to submit for decision and request a hearing | 0.5 hrs | |
| Prepare for and attend the hearing | 2.0 hrs | $700.00 |
| Subtotal | $5,500 – $6,000 |
One line in that table deserves a closer look. The reply brief usually does not get written. A co-owner’s right to force a sale is statutory, which means the briefing rarely needs to be deep. Back that line out and the realistic cost of getting from filing to a hearing is closer to $4,000.00.
Phase two: whatever the court asks for next — about 3.0 – 5.0 hours.
Winning the motion is not the end. A judge may set an evidentiary hearing, or schedule a later hearing to give the other co-owner a chance to buy the property or make arrangements to move. Someone has to draft the order. There may be status conferences. Five hours is an estimate, and this is the phase that varies most with the individual judge.
Phase three: actually selling the house — another 5.0 hours
An order compelling a sale does not sell a house. If the co-owner living in the property cooperates, this phase is inexpensive. If they do not, it means coordinating with the listing agent, the title company, and sometimes the appraiser — and occasionally going back to the court when showings keep falling through or the property turns out to have complications that affect the sale.
Timing, and what you actually pay each month
The sequence looks like this: the complaint is drafted and served, the other side has twenty-one days to answer, and a motion for summary judgment follows immediately. They have a few weeks to oppose it. If a reply is warranted, add a couple more weeks. A hearing then typically gets scheduled one to two months out.
So most of the money moves in the first three or four months, and month one is the heaviest because the hard costs — filing fee, service, recordings — all land at once. A reasonable expectation is $2,000 to $3,000 in the first month, then somewhere between nothing and $1,500 per month through the hearing. There are genuinely quiet stretches where nothing is billed at all.
Our firm asks for a $3,500 retainer up front, deposited into our IOLTA trust account. In a case that runs the ordinary course, that nearly covers everything through the hearing, and most clients need one replenishment along the way rather than a steady monthly obligation.
The number that is not in the budget
Everything above assumes the other co-owner does not fight hard. That assumption is the single largest variable in the case.
If they contest your ownership interest, refuse to cooperate with a listing, or assert counterclaims, the picture changes. The common ones are claims for contribution, offset, or reimbursement — arguments that they paid the mortgage, the taxes, the insurance, or paid for improvements, and are owed something off the top.
Less commonly, you see claims for unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, or an equitable ownership interest. If any of that happens, the case requires written discovery, depositions, possibly appraisal testimony, and additional motion practice. The cost does not creep upward; it can double or more.
This is worth saying plainly, because it is the part most cost estimates quietly leave out. A budget that only describes the smooth version of the case is not a budget. It is marketing.
What happens if the case gets expensive and you run out of money
This is the question clients ask least often and should ask first.
Our fee agreement provides for an attorney’s lien recorded against the property at the outset of the case. It secures whatever remains unpaid when the property sells. The purpose is not to threaten a client — it is to make it possible for a client who is temporarily short on cash to keep litigating a case they are winning, rather than abandoning it because a counterclaim doubled the fees in month five. It also means we are paid from the sale proceeds rather than chasing a former client for a balance.
Terms like this are negotiable, and any lawyer proposing one should walk you through it before you sign, including what interest accrues on an unpaid balance and what happens if the property never sells. If a lawyer will not do that clearly, that tells you something.
A note on getting off the mortgage
If you and your co-owner are both obligated on the loan, understand what a partition judgment does and does not do. A court can order the property sold. A court cannot order your lender to release you from the note. In practice that release comes from the loan being paid off at closing, or from the other co-owner refinancing and the lender agreeing in writing. If your real objective is to stop being liable for a mortgage on a house you do not live in, say so at the first meeting — it shapes the strategy and the settlement posture.
Keane Law, PLLC handles partition actions throughout Utah. If you co-own property you want out of, call 801-997-8894 or email walter@klawut.com for a consultation.
The figures in this article are estimates based on a typical uncontested partition action and are not a quote, a flat fee, or a guarantee of cost. Every case is different. This article is general information about Utah law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.