§ 874.312.Definitions

Before Chapter 10's mechanics can make sense, its key terms need fixed meanings. A "determination of value" is the court order fixing fair market value under § 874.316 or § 874.320, or the court's adoption of a value the cotenants agreed to themselves. "Partition by sale" means a court-ordered sale of the entire property, whether by auction, sealed bids, or the open-market process § 874.320 describes. "Partition in kind" means dividing the property into physically distinct parcels, each separately titled.

The fourth term, "record," gets a deliberately broad definition — information inscribed on something tangible, or stored electronically, so long as it can be retrieved in perceivable form. That breadth matters because this chapter lets cotenants act "in a record" in several places, including the opt-out agreement under § 874.313, and because § 874.323 separately addresses how electronic records interact with federal electronic-signature law.