842.04.Defendants.

A partition judgment is only as reliable as the list of people it binds. Section 842.04 builds that list around two rules. First, any cotenant who is not joining the case as a plaintiff must be joined as a defendant — there is no room for a co-owner to be left out of the action entirely. Second, anyone else whose interest the requested judgment would affect, whether a tenant, a lienholder, or a person in physical possession of the land, must also be brought in as a defendant.

The distinction between these two rules matters. Every cotenant is swept into the case automatically, because partition necessarily touches every owner’s share. Tenants, lienholders, and occupants are joined only when the judgment demanded would affect their particular interest — the section ties their required presence to what the plaintiff is asking the court to decide.

This joinder requirement sets up the rest of the chapter. A judgment of partition can only bind, and a sale can only clear, the interests of people who were properly made parties, so getting the defendant list right at the pleading stage protects everyone with a stake in the outcome.