Culley v. McFadden Lake Corp.

OPINION

BAKER, Judge.

Today we are asked to decide whether Indiana law recognizes a trial court’s power to award owelty in partitioning a parcel of land. Partition is a proceeding in which a cotenant of land enforces a right to divide the property and to have the shares set off in severalty. Pavy v. Pavy, 121 Ind.App. 194, 98 N.E.2d 224, 226 (1951). Owelty is a sum of money paid by one cotenant to another when land cannot be equally divided among the cotenants in a partition proceeding without impairing the value of all the parties’ interests. The payment is required so that each cotenant…