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Section IA   Special provisions with respect to partition actions

Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

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Section IA   Special provisions with respect to partition actions

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    (Added by Act 34 of 1956)

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    653A.   

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      (1)     In an action for partition, where, if this section had not been passed, a decree for partition might have been made, then if it appears to the Court that by reason of the nature of the property to which the action relates, or of the number of the parties interested or presumptively interested therein, or of the absence or disability of some of those parties, or of any other circumstance, a sale of the property and a distribution of the proceeds would be more beneficial for the parties interested than a division of the property between or among them, the Court may, if it thinks fit, on the request of any of the parties interested, and notwithstanding the dissent or disability of any others of them, direct a sale of the property accordingly, and may give all necessary or proper consequential directions.

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      (2)     Where the land sought to be partitioned in subsection (1) is capable of partition generally but the resultant share of any of the parties interested would be so small that it would adversely affect the proper use of the land, the Judge may in lieu of directing a sale of the property add such share to the share of any other person interested or distribute such share between 2 or more other persons interested in such proportion as he thinks fit.

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      (3)     Where the Judge proceeds in accordance with subsection (2) he shall assess the value of the share added or distributed and shall order that there be paid to the proprietor of the share, by each proprietor who has received an addition to his share, the value of such addition.

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      (4)     Where any sum becomes payable under subsection (3) the Registrar may order that such sum be secured by way of hypothec on the share of the person liable to pay it. (Amended by Act 4 of 1988)

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    653B.   In an action for partition, where, if this section had not been passed, a decree for partition might have been made, then if the party or parties interested, individually or collectively to the extent of one moiety or upwards in the property to which the action relates, request the Court to direct a sale of the property and a distribution of the proceeds instead of a division of the property between or among the parties interested, the Court shall, unless it sees good reason to the contrary, direct a sale of the property accordingly, and give all necessary or proper consequential directions.

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    653C.   In an action for partition, where, if this section had not been passed, a decree for partition might have been made, then if any party interested in the property to which the action relates requests the Court to direct a sale of the property and a distribution of the proceeds instead of a division of the property between or among the parties interested, the Court may, if it thinks fit, unless the other parties interested in the property, or some of them, undertake to purchase the share of the party requesting a sale, direct a sale of the property, and give all necessary or proper consequential directions; and in case of such undertaking being given, the Court may order a valuation of the share of the party requesting a sale in such manner as the Court thinks fit, and may give all necessary or proper consequential directions.

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    653D.   On any sale under this section, the Court may, if it thinks fit, allow any of the parties interested in the property to bid at the sale, on such terms as to non-payment of deposit, or as to setting off or accounting for the purchase money or any part thereof instead of paying the same, or as to any other matters as to the Court seem reasonable.

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    653E.   Where the Court, in an action for partition, directs a sale instead of a division of the property, the property shall be sold and conveyed by the Sheriff with the formalities to be observed in cases of execution, and such sale and conveyance shall have all the effects of a judicial sale.

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    653F.   Any person who, if this section had not been passed, might have maintained an action for partition may maintain such action against any one or more of the parties interested, without serving the other or others (if any) of those parties; and it shall not be competent to any defendant in the action to object for want of parties; and at the hearing of the cause the Court may direct such inquiries as to the nature of the property, and the persons interested therein, and other matters, as it thinks necessary or proper with a view to an order for partition or sale being made on further consideration; but all persons who, if this section had not been passed, would have been necessary parties to the action shall be served with notice of the decree or order on the hearing, and after such notice shall be bound by the proceedings as if they had been originally parties to the action, and shall be deemed parties to the action; and all such persons may have liberty to attend the proceedings; and any such person may, within a time limited by rules of Court, apply to the Court to add to the decree or order.

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    653G.   Where in an action for partition it appears to the Court that notice of the decree or order on the hearing of the cause cannot be served on all the persons on whom that notice is by the last preceding article required to be served, or cannot be so served without expense disproportionate to the value of the property to which the action relates, the Court may, if it thinks fit, on the request of any of the parties interested in the property, and notwithstanding the dissent or disability of any others of them, by order, dispense with that service on any person or class of persons specified in the order, and instead thereof may direct advertisements to be published at such times and in such manner as the Court shall think fit, calling upon all persons claiming to be interested in such property who have not been so served to come in and establish their respective claims in respect thereof before the Judge in Chambers within a time to be thereby limited. After the expiration of the time so limited, all persons who shall not have so come in and established such claims, whether they are within or without the jurisdiction of the Court (including persons under any disability), shall be bound by the proceedings in the action as if on the day of the date of the order dispensing with service they had been served with notice of the decree or order service whereof is dispensed with, and thereupon the powers of the Court under the provisions of this Code relating to trustees shall extend to their interests in the property to which the action relates as if they had been parties to the action, and the Court may thereupon, if it shall think fit, direct a sale of the property and give all necessary or proper consequential directions.

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    653H.   Where an order is made under this section dispensing with service of notice on any person or class of persons, and property is sold by order of the Court, the following provisions shall have effect,—

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      (a)     the proceeds of the sale shall be paid into Court to abide the further order of the Court;

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      (b)     the Court shall, by order, fix a time at the expiration of which the proceeds will be distributed, and may from time to time by further order extend that time;

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      (c)     the Court shall direct such notices to be given by advertisements or otherwise as it thinks best adapted for notifying to any persons on whom service is dispensed with, who may not have previously come in and established their claims, the fact of the sale, the time of the intended distribution, and the time within which a claim to participate in the proceeds must be made;

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      (d)     if at the expiration of the time so fixed or extended the interests of all the persons interested have been ascertained, the Court shall distribute the proceeds in accordance with the rights of those persons;

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      (e)     if at the expiration of the time so fixed or extended the interests of all the persons interested have not been ascertained, and it appears to the Court that they cannot be ascertained, or cannot be ascertained without expense disproportionate to the value of the property or of the unascertained interests, the Court shall distribute the proceeds in such manner as appears to the Court to be most in accordance with the rights of the persons whose claims to participate in the proceeds have been established, whether all those persons are or are not before the Court, and with such reservations (if any) as to the Court may seem fit in favour of any other persons (whether ascertained or not) who may appear from the evidence before the Court to have any prima facie rights which ought to be so provided for, although such rights may not have been fully established, but to the exclusion of all other persons; and thereupon all such other persons shall by virtue of this section be excluded from participation in those proceeds on the distribution thereof, but notwithstanding the distribution any excluded person may recover from any participating person any portion received by him of the share of the excluded person.

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    653I.   Where in an action for partition 2 or more sales are made, if any person who has by virtue of this section been excluded from participation in the proceeds of any of those sales establishes his claim to participate in the proceeds of a subsequent sale, the shares of the other persons interested in the proceeds of the subsequent sale shall abate to the extent (if any) to which they were increased by the non-participation of the excluded person in the proceeds of the previous sale, and shall to that extent be applied in or towards payment to that person of the share to which he or she would have been entitled in the proceeds of the previous sale if his or her claim thereto had been established in due time.

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    653J.   In an action for partition a request for sale may be made or an undertaking to purchase given on the part of a minor, a person of unsound mind, or a person under any other disability, by the tutor, curator (if so authorised by the Judge), or other person authorised to act on behalf of the person under such disability, but the Court shall not be bound to comply with any such request or undertaking on the part of a minor unless it appear that the sale or purchase will be for his or her benefit.

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    653K.   For the purposes of this section, an action for partition shall include an action for sale and distribution of the proceeds, and in an action for partition it shall be sufficient to claim a sale and distribution of the proceeds, and it shall not be necessary to claim a partition.

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    653L.   In an action for partition the Court may make such order as it thinks just respecting costs.

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