Has anyone ever "PARTITIONED" their land?

[Northstar]

I am in the beginning of a partition of my farm. I own 25% of a 300acre farm with some really unsavory relatives.. They won't communicate in any way and say I don't own anything ... lol... I had a consultation with an attorney and I can partition....

Has anyone here gone thru this process? If so , I have some questions.. I know it will vary from state to state...

I was wondering did you have to petition the court to partition or did you do an "in kind" partition? If you had to do it in court , did the commissioners do the actual survey?

Also, did you have to get an appraisal? or would just a market analysis work?
I want to pose these questions to my attorney however she will not call me back...

[Yvonne's hubby]

Most of the multiple ownership deeds I have encountered use language like "one quarter undivided interest" or other similar language. IE you "own" 25 percent interest of the whole parcel. Unless your co owners opt to sell the entire parcel, at which time you would receive your share of proceeds, or they all agree to a partitioning agreement, (unlikely from the sound of things) you may find it incredibly difficult to actually utilize your 25 percent. Of course you can always take it court, and the lawyers will ultimately end up with the whole thing. You may be able to sell your interest in the farm to one of the co owners, but I wouldnt count on getting a fair shake, and its unlikely that anyone else would pony up their hard earned cash for a 25 percent interest in this farm either.

[Pony]

Wonder why your attorney won't return your calls. Is she a "family friend" sort of person? You may have to look outside your county to get a straight answer.

I'm sorry your family is being so unkind.

[rambler]

Sorry you have to go through this.

These deals become incredibly complex, it sounds like your family will fight this, no one comes out well on these deals.

Not the answer you wanted, but get to liking your lawyer, you will be spending a lot of time together........

Paul

[Alice In TX/MO]

Only a lawyer can answer your questions for your area.

[motdaugrnds]

I'm wondering if your making yourself a nuisance on your 25% will let your family members be more inclined to negotiate with you, thereby making it easier to sell your portion so you would stop doing whatever it is your doing that is upsetting them. Their payment would need to be put in writing and you, of course, would be letting them buy your 25%.

I see no way around your situation since a 25% interest in the entire acreage cannot be legally split without the cooperation of your relatives; and from what you've said, I doubt that would occur.

You do, however, have a legal right to do whatever you want on your 25% no matter where on that 300 acres you do it. (The very first thing I would do is consult with an "outside" lawyer who will consult with you for no charge and take your case on a "contingency fee" bases. This means the lawyer would not get paid until you get paid, which is a nice motivator for any lawyer to do the work that needs to be done so you can actually get some money.)

As for as a monetary value of your 25%, that would be easy. Just go down to the courthouse, ask to see the real estate assessment for that 300 acres, divide that by 25% and you have a monetary value your lawyer can use for negotiations.

The other VERY IMPORTANT thing to do is to consult with your local agencies so as to make sure whatever you consider doing is legal to do on your own land.

Good luck!

[Lazy J]

It depends on what the deed says, if it says "undivided 25% interest" then you can not partition. I believe you can force a sale with a court order, but you need to discuss that with an attorney.

[Nicole Irene]

We had some friends go through this...all I know was it took *years* (it was about 10 years, seriously) with lots of lawyers and lots of court dates.

Good luck.

[Maura]

Are you paying 25% of the taxes on this land? If you aren't it would suggest that you do not have an interest.

[ksfarmer]

Been there , done that. Parcel of land was willed to 5 cousins , undivided interest. One passed away. 4 remaining cousins now owned 25% each undivided interest. One (me) wanted full ownership, so 2 sold their interest to me (for a fair price). I am now the owner of 75% undivided interest. As majority owner I can call the shots, decide who farms the land, all decisions are mine as the majority owner. The 25% owner is responsible for 25% of all expenses and gets 25 % of any profits. He has no decision powers on the use of the land. He could perhaps insist on selling his interest elsewhere, but it is not an attractive deal for any prospective buyer. Thus, he eventually agreed to sell his 25% to me for the same fair price the other cousins agreed on. The whole thing took some time and wrangling to get worked out, but I am now the sole owner of this land.

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

I'm wondering if your making yourself a nuisance on your 25% will let your family members be more inclined to negotiate with you, thereby making it easier to sell your portion so you would stop doing whatever it is your doing that is upsetting them. Their payment would need to be put in writing and you, of course, would be letting them buy your 25%.

I see no way around your situation since a 25% interest in the entire acreage cannot be legally split without the cooperation of your relatives; and from what you've said, I doubt that would occur............................................. ............

You do, however, have a legal right to do whatever you want on your 25% no matter where on that 300 acres you do it. .................................................. .....
The other VERY IMPORTANT thing to do is to consult with your local agencies so as to make sure whatever you consider doing is legal to do on your own land.

Good luck!

I can't speak for the law in your state, but , in Kansas that can't be done. 25% undivided interest means just that. You cannot do anything on any of the land unless all the owners agree. Now, if it is specified which 25% is yours, that's a different ball game.

[motdaugrnds]

Ksfarmer, wouldn't that mean no one could do anything on any of that land unless all the owners agree? Seems to me unless someone has a majority of the interest, it sure leaves the land rather useless.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by ksfarmer

Been there , done that. Parcel of land was willed to 5 cousins , undivided interest. One passed away. 4 remaining cousins now owned 25% each undivided interest. One (me) wanted full ownership, so 2 sold their interest to me (for a fair price). I am now the owner of 75% undivided interest. As majority owner I can call the shots, decide who farms the land, all decisions are mine as the majority owner. The 25% owner is responsible for 25% of all expenses and gets 25 % of any profits. He has no decision powers on the use of the land. He could perhaps insist on selling his interest elsewhere, but it is not an attractive deal for any prospective buyer. Thus, he eventually agreed to sell his 25% to me for the same fair price the other cousins agreed on. The whole thing took some time and wrangling to get worked out, but I am now the sole owner of this land.

Any survivors of the one that passed away, and ex spouses, unknown children, anyone named in a will, can come out of the woods and lay a claim. They might not have any merit, but takes time and money to deal with. Or they might have merit, and add several more names to the list of undivided owners.

Makes these deals so difficult. Undivided interests are such a nightmare.

State laws come into play, so how it works in one place might be different than another place. North Star doesn't give a location, so it would be hard to really help much.

Paul

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

Ksfarmer, wouldn't that mean no one could do anything on any of that land unless all the owners agree? Seems to me unless someone has a majority of the interest, it sure leaves the land rather useless.

It could be a real mess if none of the owners are in agreement. Like a board of directors of a corporation all going different ideas. The have to be in agreement, ;or at least a majority.

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by rambler

Any survivors of the one that passed away, and ex spouses, unknown children, anyone named in a will, can come out of the woods and lay a claim. They might not have any merit, but takes time and money to deal with. Or they might have merit, and add several more names to the list of undivided owners.

Makes these deals so difficult. Undivided interests are such a nightmare.

State laws come into play, so how it works in one place might be different than another place. North Star doesn't give a location, so it would be hard to really help much.

Paul

Agreed Paul, it was a mess. One thing that helped in this case: the original will stated that only the cousins listed were involved, with right or survivorship.. The 5th one died before the will was activated. The property spent several years as a life estate for yet a 6th individual (my mother-in-law). She actually outlived 2 named in the original will. It was a lawyers nightmare, but it all worked out in the end.

[ksfarmer]

Sorry to cause thread drift. The only answer is for Northstar to contact lawyers to see where their individual situation stands. But, if it is a undivided interest, things are going to get interesting.

[Northstar]

Hey thanks yall for your time and suggestions on my dilemma. I did actually get a call back from my generous attorney!

Here is the run down:
I own 25% of a 300acre farm. I also own the homestead that sits right smack in the middle of it all 6 acres. Since the whole farm was in delinquent property taxes I went ahead and paid the delinquent portion to keep from going up for auction as I cannot just pay a 25% portion which is lllllaamme.. this saved the farm. However there is about 2k worth of taxes left. It appears they want it to go to auction, still speculatory. But attorney says, we need a market value on the farm, I then can choose which 75 acres I want and write a proposal to the relatives. Of course with a deadline.. My attorney said they should get some counselling to help them with the process, as the attorney will convey to them that I DO INDEED own 25% and that it can INDEED be partioned. There was no WILL. If their attorney counsels them on this it should be a no brainer , as they will have to concede and give me what I want or else this WILL go to court to a "partition action". This will end up costing them attorney, court fees, appraisal fees, etc.. Since it's more logical to do out of court I believe they will , or else why wouldn't they pay the property taxes they just bought a tractor for 3600$ instead of paying them... lolol.!

So, point is, it appears that "EVERYONE" has the legal right to a partition unless the will or settlement agreement says otherwise. which mine does not. So a partition is imminent. However, I'm not sure how to measure 75 acres, or how to measure the pasture that is connected to our homestead to find out how many acres there are there. So I will probably need to walk this off myself. I currently have a 5 acre buffer zone which is descent, however, I think i want to attach cropland to my homestead to grow prairie grass or wheat... if drought persists, then I duno!? Anyways just wanted to update this and thank all who responded to my conundrum..
thank you all!

[rambler]

Thank you for the update.

I think you will find your relatives have options to block you, that will appear to make logical sense to them.

I suspect at some point in time a surveyor will need to be paid good money to portion off a certain amount of land, not necessarily the acres you want or anything you walk off yourself, and it will take some money to pay all the professionals to get this done after several years.

I wish you well, and hope it goes nicely for you.

Paul

[Alice In TX/MO]

You will HAVE to have it surveyed.

[Pony]

Yup. A good surveyor is insurance for you, and probably the best way to CYA. Make sure you photograph (with time stamp, if possible) the surveyor's marks.