Once the court has determined that real property is to be partitioned, the court is authorized to appoint a Partition Referee for the purpose of handling the actual partition of the property. The Court’s interlocutory judgment may order either division of the property or sale of the property (with later division of the sale proceeds). In either case, a Partition Referee is appointed to carry the interlocutory judgment into effect. The Partition Referee may be authorized to employ attorneys, surveyors, real estate broker, engineers, and the like. The sale by the Partition Referee can be made by either public auction or private sale, whichever is more beneficial to the parties. The most common method of sale of real property is by private sale with the assistance of a real estate broker for advertising the property. Sales by Partition Referees must be confirmed by the court before becoming final. At the confirmation hearing, the court may confirm the proposed sale, reject the proposed sale, or allow higher bids for the property through an over-bidding process. The Partition Referee is given authority to execute documents as required to conclude a sale that is confirmed by the Court.
