In Illinois, real estate co-owners have the option of filing a "partition" action to resolve their land dispute. A partition action enables you to force the sale of property when coowners are refusing to sell.When two or more people own the same property, one of the owners CAN force a sale of the jointly owned property via a partition action or lawsuit. A partition action is a legal proceeding to force the sale of property when one or more cotenants refuse to sell. To bring a partition action, a landowner must bring a complaint before the Court in which the real estate is located. What are the steps in a partition action? Customer: in a Partition Action of Real Estate. The Title to the Property is not legal. It is important to remember that the Illinois family court system does not recognize "fault" in the divorce as grounds to award property. Partition requires a common title or interest in the property and not two competing property ownership claims.