A Successful Property Division

John and Edna Wilson were second generation family owners of a 135-acre parcel. John’s parents had been dairy farmers all their married life. Early in John and Edna’s ownership of the farm, they decided to stop dairying and planted all but five of 50 acres of fields to white pine, red oak and sugar maple. Throughout their life together, they lived in the large farmhouse, managed the woodlands on a sustainable basis and involved their son and daughter in their woods activities. Before John passed away he and Edna decided they wanted the land to remain in the family, if possible. After John’s passing, Edna asked their son and daughter if they had any interest in the farm and woodlands. Both said “yes.”

The son wanted to come home after 20 years of Army service, live on the land with his family and find a local job. He also wanted to be the next manager. The divorced daughter wanted to continue to work at a nearby hospital as a registered nurse and raise her children on the land.

With help from advisors, Edna decided she’d give each sibling a 5-acre wooded parcel along the town road so they could build homes there. Since the value that John and Edna had built up during their lifetimes was invested in the farmhouse, fields and woodland, she decided that when she died the farmhouse and five acres of fields would be sold to pay estate taxes and give her children cash for the homes they’d be building. The remaining 120 acres was to be divided equally upon Edna’s death. John and Edna had decided not to place any restrictive covenants on the land, but hoped the next owners would respect their wishes that the land would remain as working woodland.

– Rich Merk