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Heirs distribute over value of different parcels of land

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sirwardof

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? SC


Trying to summarize quickly: Father passes away. Leaves land in an estate to his children. Leaves land that is in "trust" to second wife. The children and the second wife want to sell the land in both the estate and trust together, as a unit, they are contiguous. However, they disagree over how the proceeds will be split. The value of each parcel enhances the other because the whole of it is desired by a hospital system. How is the value legally determined? The tax value of the estate land is much higher than the tax value of the trust land. However, the trust land has more acreage, and it is likely that the structures on the "estate" part will be torn down, while most of the "trust" land is raw land. Is there a precedent in case law?
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
Well you can get all the properties appraised seperately to get the relative valuation and use that to apportion the collective property sales proceeds.
It's really whatever you can work out. Neither the value assessed for taxes nor raw acreage is necessarily an indication of the property value.

There's no "case law" here. Unless you can work out an agreement between who controls the trust and the heirs of the estate, the trust will just have to negotiate with the buyer for their property and the estate for theirs. If the heirs can't agree on how to divide up what is estate property, then most likely the court wlll just order that particular property(properties) sold and split according to the terms of the will.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
The courts will not get involved with this at all. Just because they are contiguous, does not make them a single property requiring partition to sell. That they have more value if they are sold together is a matter solely for negotiation to allocate that "extra" value.
 

curb1

Senior Member
In this particular situation, the value of the land is determined by this particular buyer and how they will use the land,buildings. The value of the structures will be irrelevant for this buyer, but they will still have to pay their value even though they are coming down. This comes down to negotiating in good faith. Best to leave it with a third party appraisal.
 

aldaron

Member
Sell the whole thing as a package then divide proceeds evenly minus costs. Believe me the hospitals offer will not be beat by selling to investors. Seems the hospital wants the land and time is now.
 

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