A Farm Divided

Facts of the Case

The widow of a farmer with 3 adult children passed away. She had not done any estate planning and left no instructions for how the family farm was to be divided amongst their children.

The Problem

All 3 children wanted a piece of the land. It was very valuable and they knew it would be more profitable in the long-run to keep it rather than sell it. But without instructions from their parents in the form of estate planning, how could we fairly divide the property, along with the other remaining assets?

Our Approach and Solution

We hired a surveyor to draft an accurate plat of the property. We met with the 3 siblings in our office & discussed a fair division of the land for each person. We used the plat to mark what section each person would get & then sent the map back to the surveyor to draft new legal descriptions for the 3 new tracts of land.

Meet the Attorney

Our Working Process and Solution

1. We calmly & cooperatively discussed the best options with the 3 siblings.
2. Through our survey we could provide the most accurate assessment upon which they could make their decisions.
3. We presented the plan, new legal descriptions & plat map to the court for approval.

The Outcome of the Lawsuit

The court approved the proposed distributions as fundamentally equal considering the entire estate and the siblings’ relationships remained strong in this stressful time.