| Partition Suit? Ownership w/ boyfriend
What is the name of your state? Florida
Sorry for the length, but here goes:
In 1999 my boyfriend and I purchased a home (we have a child together). We are both on the mortgage and deed (joint tenants). The property is a duplex and the rental income is $700/mo, the mortgage about $1000/mo. After about a year we split up and I moved out. Within the 1st year or so I helped with the mortgage payment a couple of times when he asked, because of course I did not want to be late on the payment. I tried in the beginning to get possession of the rental unit, and have me handle that, and the both of us split the mortgage payment and both be responsible for landscaping, maintenance etc. He refused stating that he had a right to the rental income. Even changed the locks on the house. It just wasn’t worth the fight then, so he has always collected the rental income (totaling over $50k now, and I know tax free!). I had not done anything about ownership or control of the property because I knew we were building equity in the home. Then a year ago, I pulled my credit report and was surprised to see 8 late payments on the mortgage (not sure why, he makes $50K plus/yr + rental income), probably more now! I have also been married for a couple of years, and wanted to cut the financial ties that we have on the home. I then started trying to negotiate with him to come to a financial agreement, and then have him take the mortgage and deed in his name. We did agree last July on $37K plus a 5% lien for 10 years (not sure if the lien is normal or would work, we had not contacted an attorney yet). But he never would move forward with obtaining the mortgage etc. I had tried to push him, threatened a partition suit and nothing.
Finally, he has started the process. He just got the appraisal, and the appraisal (which looks on the low end) shows that we have about $90K in equity. Since the appraisal came in lower than he thought (although if he had done this a year ago, it would have been better) he now thinks that I should only get $30K flat. He thinks that even with that I am taking advantage. It looks like at this point we are not going to come to an agreement, and a partition suit is my only route. Based on my research I really DON”T want to even go there.
Is there any advice or reasoning or points that I can maybe bring up to him that may show him I have rights to the property? To me, I think that I’m actually getting less than I should (with the $37K,5%), but am ready to just get it done with.
With a partition suit, is a house sold like normal? I mean, if I did have to move forward with that, would it be auctioned off for cheap, or would it go on the market like a normal house, so that we’d get the advantage of splitting some equity?
Do I have any rights to say, somehow taking over the rental and then splitting the mortgage payment as I had initially wanted to do? If so, how would I start that process?
Thank you very much in advance!What is the name of your state?  | 
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