Any co-owner can apply to the competent local court for a partition auction, regardless of whether the other co-owner agrees.
The court first has the market value determined by a court-appointed valuer, which then serves as the basis for the minimum bid at the auction.
Since forced sales often achieve lower proceeds than a private sale, the partition auction is regarded as a last resort once an amicable solution has definitively failed.
At the auction itself, both the spouses involved and unrelated third parties may bid, whereby one spouse can also acquire the property in full through their own bid.
As the proceeds achieved often do not fully cover the existing liabilities, both parties should carefully have the economic consequences of a partition auction calculated in advance.
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