The costs of partition include:
§ 874.010.Included In Costs
Title 10.5. Partition of Real and Personal Property · Chapter 8. Costs of Partition · Article 1. Allowance and Apportionment of Costs of Partition · Enacted 1976 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 874.010 defines the costs of partition to include reasonable attorney's fees incurred for the common benefit, the referee's fee and expenses, contracted compensation for a surveyor or other person the referee employs, the reasonable cost of a title report with interest, and any other disbursements the court finds were incurred for the common benefit.
Full Text of § 874.010
(a) Reasonable attorney's fees incurred or paid by a party for the common benefit.
(b) The fee and expenses of the referee.
(c) The compensation provided by contract for services of a surveyor or other person employed by the referee in the action.
(e) Other disbursements or expenses determined by the court to have been incurred or paid for the common benefit.
Plain-English Summary
Partition actions generate real expenses — referee fees, surveys, title work, legal work — and this section defines what counts as a "cost of partition" that can later be apportioned among the parties under § 874.040. Five categories qualify: attorney's fees incurred or paid for the common benefit, the referee's own fee and expenses, contracted compensation for a surveyor or other person the referee employs under § 873.130, the reasonable cost of the title report required by § 872.220 (with interest), and any other disbursement the court finds was incurred for the common benefit.
That recurring phrase, "for the common benefit," is the throughline. Costs that help the case as a whole — clarifying who owns what, dividing or valuing the property, clearing title — qualify. Expenses that serve only one party's private interest don't automatically become partition costs just because they arose during the litigation.
This section covers costs generated inside the partition action itself. Section 874.020 extends the same common-benefit principle to expenses a party necessarily incurs defending or prosecuting separate actions connected to the property.
Frequently Asked Questions
What five categories of expenses count as costs of partition?
Reasonable attorney's fees for the common benefit, the referee's fee and expenses, contracted compensation for a surveyor or other person the referee employs, the reasonable cost of a title report with interest, and other common-benefit disbursements the court approves.
Does interest run on the cost of the title report?
Yes, at the legal rate, from the time of payment or, if paid before the action began, from the time the action was commenced.
Do all litigation expenses in a partition case count as partition costs?
Only those incurred or paid for the common benefit of the parties — the statute doesn't sweep in a party's purely private expenses.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1976, Ch. 73.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
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