A “friendly suit” is a lawsuit where the parties are not at each other’s throats, but need a legal remedy to a problem they can’t solve themselves. In the 1924 partition suit mentioned in the illustration several of the heirs were minors and unable to legally act on their own and the farm could not equitably be divided amongst the heirs.
A “friendly partition” suit was the result.
Not all partitions are friendly, but both types should generate court records.
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One response
There was a suit such as this when my G-grandmother (a widow) was trying to sell property. It was styled “oldest son vs. mother.” I mistakenly thought there was a problem in the family. Not so!