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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.

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.

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.