Definition : Application for partition (Action in partition)

Judicial application by which a plaintiff, holder of concurrent competing rights on an immovable with one or more persons, makes an application to the court, in order to put an end to the existing indivision between them. In undivided co-ownership, the Civil code of Québec stipulates that no one is bound to remain in indivision. An application for partition may be brought by an undivided co-owner, unless partition was postponed by an agreement, by a testamentary provision, by a judgment or by operation of law, or unless it was made impossible because the property was appropriated for a lasting purpose. In divided co-ownership, the Civil code of Québec stipulates that the share of the common portions of a fraction may not be the subject of an application for partition, separately from the private portion of that fraction.