842.14.Judgment of partition.

Once the court has found partition proper under section 842.07, or adopted a referee’s report recommending partition without sale, section 842.14 governs the judgment that follows. That judgment is conclusive on all the parties to the action, their legal representatives, and anyone claiming from them after the notice of the pendency of the action was filed — meaning a later purchaser or successor cannot undo the partition by claiming to have been outside the case.

The judgment generally leaves lienholders and tenants where it found them. Existing liens are not affected or impaired, except that a lien on an undivided interest becomes, after the judgment, a charge only on the specific share assigned to the party against whom it exists, and that share is charged with its just proportion of the costs ahead of the lien. Tenants fare similarly, with one exception: if a tenant’s lease came from less than all of the cotenant owners, the judgment extinguishes that lease, but the tenant then has a judgment for damages against the cotenant who granted it.

The section also addresses situations where an equal division is not possible without prejudice to some of the parties. The court may order compensation from one party to another to make up the difference, according to the equity of the case. And where a party has made improvements on the land with the knowledge or assent of the others, the court may allot that party the portion containing those improvements without counting their value against that party in the division.

Finally, the judgment does not stay confined to the courthouse: a certified copy must be recorded in each county where any part of the premises are situated, with the expense of that copy and recording taxed in the costs.