"'Our son has spent 15 years working on the farm and has invested in it, so he deserves to inherit it. How do I make sure the farm doesn't get divided up? Should I transfer it to him now?' Query: Dear Mary Frances, I am in my late 60s and have been farming all my life on land that originally belonged to my parents. I married my wife in the early 1980s."
"Twelve years ago she moved out of the family home and has been living with a new partner since. We never divorced and haven't had any formal legal separation. We just agreed she would leave and I would continue farming. Things were tense for a while, but we have reached a kind of unspoken peace and only deal with each other through the children if needed."
A farmer in his late 60s has worked family land all his life and married in the early 1980s. His wife moved out twelve years ago and now lives with a new partner, but they never divorced or formalized a separation. Their son has spent 15 years working on the farm and has invested in it, and the farmer wants that son to inherit the property. The farmer worries the farm could be divided among heirs and asks whether an immediate transfer to the son would prevent division. Family interactions remain limited and mediated through the children.
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