Land title, messed up estate.

[greasemonkeyok]

Curbside legal advice from individuals with unknown skills, while somewhat helpful in framing some of the issues, may be worth less than what you pay for it. Best advice above is to consult a real estate attorney.

 

[dodge man]

I agree with the idea the one son would have had 1/4 of it by inheritance and the other also got 1/4 of it added to his 1/2 he already owned making it 3/4. A lot of it depends on how the original deed reads that the father and son obtainined.

There is joint tennacy and tennacy in common. Joint tennacy means the other half inherets all of it if the other dies, which would mean the son.

Tennacy in common means when the father died, the heirs to his estate would get his half of the property.

 

[RPW]

Without getting into legals I had heard of an instance where two ajoining properties. Due to the way access to one property was through the other with permission. After many years owner wanted to fence off portion of property that was being used by other owner. Was told that because he had let this go for so long that the part of the property that was being used by the other owner could not be fenced off and was now concidered an access esasment (sp). As to the original OP a swag is that because no one raised an objection for so long they became the owners similar to homesteading. Anyway it's most likely only going to make the lawyers more wealthy.

Good luck.

 

[TripleR]

I have seen stuff like this dragged through court and in the end it had to be sold to pay the lawyers; there will be no winner as it has been ignored too long.

 

[sweettractors]

I have seen stuff like this dragged through court and in the end it had to be sold to pay the lawyers; there will be no winner as it has been ignored too long.

I agree with that. We just finished, last year, with a similar issue and luckily we have a lawyer in the family that worked for "cost" so 7 of us got enough to buy a good 50 inch snowblower out of the settlement. This took 3 years of Lawyering. Ken Sweet

 

[TripleR]

I agree with that. We just finished, last year, with a similar issue and luckily we have a lawyer in the family that worked for "cost" so 7 of us got enough to buy a good 50 inch snowblower out of the settlement. This took 3 years of Lawyering. Ken Sweet

You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I have seen. After something like you described was finished, a guy knocked his elderly sister down on the court house parking lot and was rightly prosecuted for assault. The land was later sold at auction on the courthouse steps to pay off the debts incurred.

 

[TGF]

So... your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate...

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Lawyers are people. Just like tractors, you need to do your homework before you buy one. If you don't, you might get a Russian tractor instead of a JD or Kubota or whatever the best machines are. Most of the horror stories I am aware of involve the use of the a Russian tractor/lawyer.

Then look at the circumstance as a business deal - does it make sense to pay x$ to get a fractional interest in 48 acres? A "good" lawyer will address this with you up front.

Whatever you do, don't think that these posts address all the issues relevant to your decision. They don't. They are helpful up to a point because they raise some of the issues, legal and practical.

 

[pennwalk]

Based on the things that have happened to people around me when dealing with lawyers It might be better to sign everything over to the lawyer and just move on. I am not really kidding on this. If you are looking for justice you better look elsewhere.

Chris

 

[ultrarunner]

Two Farmers fight a Bull... each hire a Lawyer... Problem now solved.

Farmers now have nothing to fight over... Lawyer now owns the Bull.

Above told to me as child by my Dairy Farmer Grandfather