Can partner in joint property force a sale?

[Ashley Abramson]

My parents own a piece of property on a lake with 50% undivided interest, and their partner has 50% undivided interest. The property is worth about $500k (or less) according to comps on the lake. There is currently a property slightly smaller listed for 450k that has been on the market for 200 days. Their partner has an offer in writing for $900k. He is trying to get my parents to buy him out for $450k. I've done a lot of research and cant tell if he can take us to court and force us to overpay to buy him out because of this offer. The offer is from the neighbor who wants to buy our property because he wants to use the two properties (his and ours) to build. My parents dont want to sell whatsoever, the property has been in our family for over 50 years. Can our partner take us to court and force a partition to sell because he has that offer? Or can we get a court ordered appraisal and pay him fair market value? We are willing to pay FMV. The partner is unreasonable and negotiated in bad faith with the offeror knowing we don't want to sell...

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Calling a lawyer in the morning.

[Charlie MacPherson]

I'm not a lawyer - and you need one - but I believe that either partner can file a "petition to partition" in the court.

I wouldn't trust that offer.  The other partner has way too much to gain by inflating the value.