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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 8-702 / 07-0620 Filed December 31, 2008 MARY STEGALL and DAVID W. HENDRIX, Plaintiffs-Appellees, vs. RICKY L. STEGALL and BARBARA SUE GREEDY, Defendants-Appellants. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Mills County, James S. Heckerman, Judge.

The defendants appeal from the district court's ruling denying them summary judgment on the partition action brought by the plaintiffs. REVERSED AND REMANDED.

DeShawne L. Bird-Sell of DeShawne L. Bird-Sell, P.L.C., Glenwood, for appellants. Matthew G. Woods of Peters Law Firm, P.C., Glenwood, for appellees.

Heard by Sackett, C.J., Vaitheswaran and Potterfield, JJ.

2 SACKETT, C.J. Ricky Stegall and Barbara Greedy appeal the district court's ruling denying them summary judgment in this partition action. We reverse. Mary Stegall filed a petition for partition of real property alleging she was the owner of a life estate and that the defendants, Ricky Stegall, Barbara Greedy, and David Hendrix, each had an undivided one-third vested remainder interest in the property at issue. The petition asked that the property be sold and the profits partitioned in accord with Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure 1.1201 through 1.1228. Defendants Ricky Stegall and Barbara Greedy filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that absent the consent of the remaindermen, the holder of a life estate could not seek partition.1 partition. Mary Stegall filed a motion to amend the petition to realign David Hendrix as a plaintiff who is the owner of an undivided remainder interest in the property. The motion was granted and, on March 12, 2007, the district court entered a ruling denying the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The court They do not consent to the action for

concluded that the partition action was properly brought by a tenant in common, with the consent of the life tenant.

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Iowa Code

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