One Owner, or Two Married Owners
Does Any of This Apply to Me?
Not the Act, which turns on tenancy in common. Your file is about the building and the numbers.
Should I Still Check the Deed?
It confirms in an afternoon what you expect, and it is worth doing on any house that has been in the family a long time.
What Decides My File Then?
Whether the framing survived and what the house is worth repaired. An engineer answers the first and an agent with no interest in the outcome the second.
A Few Owners Who All Know Each Other
Can We Just All Sign?
Where everyone's interest is documented and everyone agrees, yes, and it closes like an ordinary sale.
Is It Heirs' Property?
It turns on tenancy in common, the absence of a binding agreement, and the proportion of interests held by relatives. A lawyer settles it.
One of Us Wants out and the Others Do Not.
That is what the buyout provisions in section 15-61-370 exist for, and families frequently resolve it by agreement instead. A lawyer sets out both routes.
Can One of Us Make the Insurance Claim?
It depends on how the policy was written and who holds an insurable interest. Establish the ownership first, because the answer follows from it.
Many Owners, Some You Have Never Met
Where Do We Even Start?
The Register of Deeds for what was recorded, then the probate court in each county a deceased relative lived in. A South Carolina lawyer assembles it far faster.
Someone Offered to Buy My Share.
Take it to a lawyer before answering. Selling a fractional interest to a stranger is lawful and very hard to undo.
What If Somebody Files Against Us?
The Act requires a preliminary determination, a court-ordered appraisal assuming sole ownership of the fee simple estate, a cotenant buyout right, and an open-market sale as the default. Speak to a lawyer immediately.
Can We Divide It Instead of Selling?
Section 15-61-380 provides for partition in kind and by allotment, and section 15-61-390 requires the court to weigh manifest prejudice before ordering a sale. On acreage that is genuinely practical.
A Sign Appeared on the Property.
Read it, photograph it and tell the family. Where notice is by publication a sign must be posted within ten days of the court's determination.
Nobody Knows Who Owns It
Is That Hopeless?
No, and it is common. It is a research problem with established routes, and it takes time rather than being impossible.
What Can We Do Meanwhile?
Secure the building. That needs nobody's authority and it is the only thing that gets more expensive by waiting.
Can We Sell Before It Is Resolved?
No buyer can take good title until it is, which is why the work has to happen either way. Starting now is the whole advice.
Questions However Many Owners
Was the House Properly Insured?
On family-held property, frequently not. Ask who the policy names and whether it reflects who actually owns it.
Can I Sell With an Open Claim?
Yes, where the ownership position allows a sale at all. Who keeps the proceeds is a contract term.
Will You Buy Just My Share?
No. We buy whole properties from all the owners together or we do not buy.
Is There a Fee for a Figure?
None, and declining costs nothing either.
If your question is specific to your property — and the good ones usually are — send the address. The answer usually turns on who is on the deed, and our service area index sets out what changes across the region.