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. If the coowners cannot agree on how to dispose of the property, the new owners could sue for partition of property and force its sale.Partition actions in New York refer to legal proceedings undertaken to divide jointly owned real property among its coowners. Partition sale would only be advantageous if boy had significant equity in the property. A partition action forces the sale of jointly owned real estate. Many people opt for a simple approach to dividing their assets when making their estate plans.