What’s Your Inheritance Plan For Your Land?

Southern Land Advisors has helped families sell inherited assets from Dollar General’s to office buildings to mountain retreats to farms to raw timberland. Well over 50% of the time we experienced squabbling within the family. In past blogs, we have addressed what the heirs can do to help clean up the title and protect the asset. Here we will address some of the ways the “parents” can structure the future handling of the properties and avoid disputes that can become expensive and divisive.

Planning before death can address many of the issues that transpire after the owner dies. The #1 most important step is to have a Will that specifies exactly which sibling receives what in terms of property interest. The future ownership needs to be clearly spelled out in a Will. Having the property surveyed and split up into individual parcels for ownership is one option. Another viable option is to set up a Trust to specify property disposition after death. A Trust is the use of a third party to oversee the disposition of an asset for the beneficiary. The trustee makes sure that the assets are handled in accordance with the wishes of the deceased. You can talk to an Estate attorney to better understand Trusts.

Another option to consider is to use a non-sibling Executor for the estate to deal with the allocation of assets according to the Will. Having a third party that does not gain or lose concerning the disposition of assets will help keep the peace amongst the family and deliver the results of the parent’s intended goal.

Seek out an Estate attorney and address these issues before it is too late. By doing such, disputes that can injure your families’ relationships can be avoided. If you have assets that you need help with, give us a call and we will be glad to advise you in a direction that best fits your goals and intended desirers.