Summers

*140 Ricardo Summers and Alejandro Gomez own investment real estate with Wan Fen Tan, but the parties disagree on the amount of their respective ownership interests. The trial court ordered the property to be partitioned and sold, with the parties' ownership interests to be determined at a later date. Summers and Gomez appealed. Although we question whether the order was appealable, we construe *65 the appeal as a petition for a writ of mandate. On the merits, we hold that the partition statutes do not allow a court to order the manner of a property's partition, such as the sale here, before it determines the ownership interests in the property. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's order.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Our understanding of the background of this case is limited due to the slim appellate record. We know, however, that in early 2016 Tan sued Summers and Gomez to resolve a dispute about a piece of investment real estate they jointly own in San Francisco. The dispute centered around the amount of each party's ownership interest in the property and corresponding right to receive income from, and obligation to pay expenses for, the property. Although our…