Art. 4626.Judgment Ordering Reimbursement Or Payment of Amounts Due Co-Owner Out of Proceeds of Public Sale

A public sale that ends co-ownership does not necessarily end the financial accounting between the co-owners. Some may have paid property taxes or covered upkeep costs that benefited everyone; others may have collected rent or other income from the property without sharing it. Article 4626 makes sure the sale proceeds settle those accounts before the money is distributed.

The judgment ordering a public sale has to order two things out of the proceeds. First, reimbursement to a co-owner for the amount proven due for taxes paid on the property and for expenses of preserving it, since one co-owner should not bear those costs alone while the sale benefits everyone. Second, payment to a co-owner for the amount proven due from another co-owner who received and kept the fruits and revenues the property generated, such as rent, without sharing them.

Both items require proof; the article speaks of amounts proven to be due, not amounts merely claimed. Article 4626.1 sets out the parallel rule when the sale is private rather than public, adding cost-allocation items specific to a private sale.