PROPERTY CODE

CHAPTER 23. PARTITION


	§ 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, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.            


	§ 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, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.            


	§ 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, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.            


	§ 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, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.            


	§ 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, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.  
Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 443, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1991.


	§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.