CHAPTER 23. PARTITION
PROPERTY CODE
TITLE 4. ACTIONS AND REMEDIES
CHAPTER 23. PARTITION
Sec. 23.001. PARTITION. A joint owner or claimant of real
property or an interest in real property or a joint owner of
personal property may compel a partition of the interest or the
property among the joint owners or claimants under this chapter
and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3513, ch. 576, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1,
1984.
Sec. 23.002. VENUE AND JURISDICTION. (a) A joint owner or a
claimant of real property or an interest in real property may
bring an action to partition the property or interest in a
district court of a county in which any part of the property is
located.
(b) A joint owner of personal property must bring an action to
partition the property in a court that has jurisdiction over the
value of the property.
Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3513, ch. 576, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1,
1984.
Sec. 23.003. EFFECT ON FUTURE INTERESTS. A partition of real
property involving an owner of a life estate or an estate for
years and other owners of equal or greater estate does not
prejudice the rights of an owner of a reversion or remainder
interest.
Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3513, ch. 576, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1,
1984.
Sec. 23.004. EFFECT OF PARTITION. (a) A person allotted a
share of or an interest in real property in a partition action
holds the property or interest in severalty under the conditions
and covenants that applied to the property prior to the
partition.
(b) A court decree confirming a report of commissioners in
partition of real property gives a recipient of an interest in
the property a title equivalent to a conveyance of the interest
by a warranty deed from the other parties in the action.
(c) Except as provided by this chapter, a partition of real
property does not affect a right in the property.
Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3513, ch. 576, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1,
1984.
Sec. 23.005. FEES. The judge of a court that hears an action to
partition real property shall examine the report of the
commissioners appointed to partition the property and shall
determine from the report and from evidence submitted by the
parties the complexity and difficulty of making the partition.
The court shall then award the commissioners, and any surveyor
appointed by the court or retained by the commissioners, a
reasonable fee for the services rendered. The fees awarded shall
be taxed and collected as costs of court in the same manner as
the other costs in the action.
Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 3514, ch. 576, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1,
1984. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 443, Sec. 1, eff.
Sept. 1, 1991.
Sec. 23.006. ACCESS EASEMENT FOR PARTITIONED PROPERTY. (a)
Unless waived by the parties in an action to partition property
under this chapter, the commissioners appointed to partition
property shall grant a nonexclusive access easement on a tract of
partitioned property for the purpose of providing reasonable
ingress to and egress from an adjoining partitioned tract that
does not have a means of access through a public road or an
existing easement appurtenant to the tract. The order granting
the access easement shall contain a legal description of the
easement.
(b) Unless waived by the parties in writing in a private
partition agreement, the property owner of a partitioned tract
that has a means of access through a public road or an existing
easement appurtenant to the tract shall grant in the private
partition agreement a nonexclusive access easement on the owner's
partitioned tract for the purpose of providing reasonable ingress
to and egress from an adjoining partitioned tract that does not
have a means of access through a public road or an existing
easement appurtenant to the tract.
(c) The access easement may not be a width greater than a width
prescribed by a municipality or county for a right-of-way on a
street or road. The access easement route must be the shortest
route to the adjoining tract that:
(1) causes the least amount of damage to the tract subject to
the easement; and
(2) is located the greatest reasonable distance from the primary
residence and related improvements located on the tract subject
to the easement.
(d) The adjoining tract owner who is granted an access easement
under this section shall maintain the easement and keep the
easement open for public use.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 647, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.