A land partition action in Pennsylvania is unlike any other type of civil litigation. Of course, there are plaintiffs and defendants, pleadings, and discovery just like any other lawsuit, but the course of the litigation is guided by a distinct (and often times arcane) subset of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure — Rules 1551 through 1574 — which have been minimally updated since they were enacted back in 1955. These rules divide partition litigation into two distinct phases which must be addressed in sequential order. Rules 1551 through 1557 address Phase 1 of the partition process, while Rules 1558 through 1574 address Phase 2 of the process.
Phase 1
Phase 1 of the partition process is where the Court is asked to determine all of the basic facts surrounding the disputed property itself and decide whether the property can or should be partitioned at all. For instance, the parties will have a chance to challenge the various ownership interests in the property, address any title issues, and then determine the precise metes and bounds of the property in dispute. Discovery can be served in this stage of the proceedings to assist in determining these issues. The end result of Phase 1 is a decision by the Court that the property shall or shall not be partitioned and is typically precipitated by one party filing a Motion for Order Directing Partition (or something similarly named — the partition Rules are notoriously vague on some of the procedures to be utilized). The court can hold a hearing or trial if necessary to address these Phase 1 issues. See Pa.R.C.P. 1557[OK1] . If the Court issues an order directing the partition of the property, the parties then move on to Phase 2 of the partition process. (It should be noted that, per Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 311(a)(7), an aggrieved party has an automatic right of appeal from a decision by the Court ordering partition).
Phase 2
During Phase 2, the Court will typically appoint a Special Master to oversee the case from that point forward. See Pa.R.C.P. 1558-1559. Discovery will likely be exchanged between the parties during Phase 2, and an evidentiary hearing will ultimately be held before the Special Master. The Special Master will act as a fact finder for issues such as (1) whether the property should be physically divided (into “purparts”) or sold as a whole, (2) how many purparts the property can be divided into, (3) the total value of the whole property and the individual purparts, (4) whether one side owes the other side any payments (called “owelty”) for receiving more value in property than the other, and (5) whether credits are owed to one party for things such as payment of past taxes, maintenance of the property, or for the use and occupancy of the property. See Pa.R.C.P. 1570 (list of issues to be addressed by Special Master). Ultimately, the Special Master will draft a report and recommendation to the Court. Parties have the opportunity to file “exceptions” to the Special Master’s report and recommendation, which will be addressed by the trial court judge. See Pa.R.C.P. 1569 (regarding Special Master’s report and exceptions).
The case of Kapcsos v. Benshoff, 194 A.2d 139 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2018) provides an excellent description of the two-part process all land partition cases must follow in Pennsylvania. Bear in mind that the combined duration Phases 1 and 2 of the partition process can last a long time. Given the highly structured and drawn-out litigation process, it is not unusual for partition cases to last a number of years. This is especially true since partition actions more often than not involve family members as litigants, and the litigation can therefore be very emotionally charged.
