He said that’s the final will yet everything was left to my mom. It states that if my mom died before my dad it would go into a trust and my brother and I would be trustees. See my dad said that if that happened I would get half of the income from the farm. My mom's will gives my brother 290 acres minus 10 acres and her house to us. Would it go by my mom or Dad's will? My father died in 2016.
Even though you do not understand why you need to be on the conference call on Monday with your Mom and the lawyer; Please MAKE TIME to do so. They would not have told you to be a part of the conference if it wasn't important and if it did not pertain to you.
I was wondering if your brother was concerned that he might not inherit the farmland because your Mom might have to sell it to pay for her medical bills.
If I understand you correctly, your Mom's Will states that you will inherit "everything" (the house & 10 acres PLUS the 280 acres of farmland). Since you don't want the farmland that you are going to inherit, are you planning to "sell" the farmland to your brother? You really can't just "give" the farmland to your brother. He is going to have to pay you something for the farmland.
Let us know how everything goes with your FIL moving in with you this weekend and what happens during the conference call on Monday.
Take Care & God Bless!! 66Prayers^^ & {{Hugs}}
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"Land is NOT just land; a house is NOT just a house!!"
Are you or were you ever a farmer? Has your family traveled from Eastern United States or from Europe by wagon with all of your worldly goods to land that has no towns or cities or to the open prairies; and homesteaded the land; cut down 100 year old trees to build a rough log cabin or build sod houses or dug holes into the side of a hill for a house; plowed the hard sod with a horse or even have your wife pulling the plow; put seed into the ground and watch it grow only to have grasshoppers eat everything; and then raise a family on that farm and help build a town?
Staffbull18's Family Farm has been in their family for over 200 YEARS!! (since 1818 or earlier). The farm may be as old as the country of United States of America. And you chide her for being sentimental??
If you are not a farmer and never have been, then you have NO RIGHT to judge or criticize Staffbull or anyone else who is or was a farmer. Staffbull already feels bad enough. She doesn't need someone to make such hurtful comments about her family. True, the farm that her brother sold is NOT the "Family Farm". BUT he will NOT be farming the Family Farm anymore and that hurts!
If you cannot say something positive and uplifting, please do not write on this post anymore. Thank you.
Thank you for clarifying that your brother is selling HIS house and farm and having a Farm Sale on July 8 & 9, 2018 (and NOT your Mom’s house and farm). It is always sad when a family sells their farmland because you are losing your family heritage.
I am also glad that your Mom is going to the lawyer to figure out how to pay the insurance, mortgage and taxes and who is going to harvest the crop on your Mom’s farmland.
As Barb told you, most of us are “born fixer-uppers”. If someone tells us their problems, then we have to find a solution to their problem(s). If you simply want to vent, then “just VENT away”.
God Bless.
However, most of us here are inveterate "fixers". We try to help people. If you don't want suggestions or advice, just say that you're venting. We understand.
I am sorry that you feel afraid to post anything because you feel attacked and invalidated. We are NOT ATTACKING YOU.
Imagine if you were a school teacher and asked your students to write an essay. You would expect the students to use correct punctuation and grammar, Right? That is all that the other people are asking--that you write in proper sentences using periods, commas, etc. and make paragraphs between the different topics of your posts. Like I did with your earlier posts.
It took me 3+ hours to rewrite your posts and figure out what you were saying.
It is the WAY that you are typing that is frustrating to other people. Your sentences run together. If I typed what I just wrote the same way that you type it, this is how it would look:
[staffbull as you know my family also owns 2 farms so i understand what you are going through i am sorry that you feel afraid to post anything because you feel attacked and invalidated we are not attacking you imagine if you were a school teacher and asked your students to write an essay you would expect the students to use correct punctuation and grammar right that is all that the other people are asking that you write in proper sentences using periods commas etc and make paragraphs between the different topics of your posts like i did with your earlier posts it took me 3+ hours to rewrite your posts and figure out what you were saying it is the way that you are typing that is frustrating to other people your sentences run together if i typed what i just wrote the same way that you type it this is how it would look]
Which version is easier to read and to understand? Do you now see why the other people sounded upset? They couldn't understand what you were saying!!
Please continue to express your feelings here. Just remember to use punctuation with periods and commas and paragraphs. God Bless.
I get that you are stressed.
I get that you are caught up in a family drama that probably isn't of your own making, and it seems there have been some longstanding problems around your mother's gambling and money management.
You stepped up and cared for your parents after being away for 30 years despite having your own health problems and in-laws to care for - kudos to you, you are a good daughter! None of that is really relevant to the problem at hand.
Brother has given his notice that he no longer wants to farm and is selling his own house and land. The previous agreement was that he paid the taxes and mortgage in lieu of/in addition to rent on your parent's property, but if he is no longer farming the land then he no longer will be paying, right? You say the land is worth a substantial amount of money, is your mother (like many farmers) land rich and cash poor and so strapped for cash she can't pay her mortgage and taxes?
I think you need to figure out where you are going from here and put aside everything that has gone on in the past.
Is the land planted, or is it sitting fallow - if brother put a crop in then isn't he expecting to harvest it, if not is it too late to rent the land to someone else this year?
Cutting grass isn't a priority, I see plenty of town properties that look like they have a hay field in their yard, it doesn't matter.
It is time to put into motion plans for your mother going forward, while the farm pulls at your sentimental heartstrings you admittedly are not a farmer and neither is your husband. The land is a huge asset that can be used to pay the bills for many years to come, you need to meet with the bank and a lawyer and get the ball rolling. (BTW I also had to sell my parent's farm and the adjoining land that my grandparents passed to an uncle, I get that it is hard)
We don't know how much acreage brother farms and whether or not he has enough to make a viable living once everything is sold off to pay for mom's care.
We don't know who owns the farm equipment that is being sold/moved, but it's a good guess that anything modern belonged to brother.
I still am uncertain whose property is listed as for sale - obviously brother can't sell what he doesn't own.
I think this all comes down to a lot of miscommunication between all 3 with a lot of assumptions, half truths and hyperbole deepening the rift.
The farm is a source of INCOME FOR MOM. If she gave the farm to the son, he would NOT have to pay her anything because he would own every bushel of grain that is harvested.
The 10 acres and the house (AKA the acreage) are just that--a house that sits on 10 acres. NO INCOME.
Farm inheritance is a big problem, it is like inheriting a store. What do you do if you don't want to run the store that you inherited but you need the income from it? You rent the store to someone else and have them pay you part of the profits as your source of income.
People who don't want to farm or people who work at other professions (like my family members have), rent out the farm land to someone else and have them farm the land. Many farmers farm between 500 -1000 acres (however, they own only 50% or less of the land that they farm and rent the other 50+ %). Also, many farm families are multi-generational so the farm profits have to be split among 2 or 3 different generations.
"CASH RENT" is when at harvest time (or a couple of months later--Dec or Jan or Feb) the renter, who farmed the land, sells all of the grain-corn, soybeans, wheat, etc. and gives a percentage of the profits to the farm owner.
Or the farm land owner can "SHARE CROP". In other words, the farm owner divides the farm cost with their renter who is doing all of the farm work. At harvest time, the renter puts a certain number of bushels of grain under the farm owner's name at the grain elevator/co-op which he sells and keep all of the profits. Basically the farmer & the farm owner get ONE PAYCHECK PER YEAR and that paycheck has to last all year long.
Whether you "CASH RENT" or "SHARE CROP", as the farm owner, you have to pay all property tax on the farm and farm buildings (house, barn, etc.) along with farm insurance and pivot insurance and, of course, income tax on our percentage of profits. You DO NOT Pay Social Security so you have to pay a Self Employment Tax in place of S.S.
It sounds like the brother was supposed to sell some of the grain from the 2017 harvest and he hasn't sold the grain yet and hasn't paid his Mom her percentage of cash from the 2017 harvest (which she needs to pay the property tax and farm insurance).
I looked at Staffbull's other post and apparently the brother told his Mom that he IS NOT going to farm in 2019. SO he has to send a Certified Letter of Intent Not to Farm to his Mom before August 1st? and his Mom has to "approve" the letter. It is like giving notice of quitting a job. Mom has to find a NEW RENTER to farm her farm land and have him sign a contract by Sept 1st?
I think that the brother is upset that Mom didn't die first as he knows that she will sell the farm to pay for her nursing home care. Mom can sell the farm land and the acerage (the house & 10 acres) separately. The brother SHOULD NOT be putting signs up "For Sale By Owner" on Mom's house because he does not own it. I can understand why Stiffbull is upset. The farm that her family farmed for 200 years most likely will be sold to another family. That is very hard to accept.
https://preview.agingcare.com/questions/hi-i-dont-if-my-question-was-sent-reality-is-hitting-home-sunday-my-mom-watched-my-brother-remove-al-439802.htm
I *thought* she had moved in with her mother on the farm and that her brother had been farming for years in the expectation that the land would one day be his, but she says "we now have to go down every week to cut grass and work on the plumbing and remodel a bathroom there is no bath that works and no shower". So, I don't understand where are she and mother living?
She also mentions that he owes $10K for taxes and that "he could leave her high and dry for her mortgage too", and "i think her medical bills are going to take the farm but she has the money for her bills".
So, if there's a mortgage then the "it’s been in our family 200 years" farm belongs (at least in part) to the bank? And why is bro expected to pay the taxes if he doesn't own the land?
I'm dizzy from trying to figure all this out.
When the father of your brother and you died, the 280 acres of farmland along with the "acreage" (house and 10 acres of land around the house and all outbuildings on that 10 acres) for a total of 290 acres, ALL WENT TO YOUR MOM and nothing went to your brother or you?
When your Mom dies, the 280 acres of farmland goes to your brother; and the "acreage" (the house and 10 acres of land around the house and all outbuildings on the 10 acres) goes to you.
Then WHY is your brother putting a "House For Sale By Owner" sign on property that HE DOES NOT OWN AND WILL NEVER OWN because YOU WILL INHERIT the house and the 10 acres around the house?
Your Mom needs to call your brother's bluff and fast!! Your brother is acting like a spoiled brat.
Tell your Mom that she needs to call the family lawyer and tell him what is going on. Also have your Mom call the Realty Company and have her explain how the farm land and acreage are HERS and that only after HER DEATH will your brother own the 280 acres of farmland and NONE of the acreage.
If your brother bought any of the tools or equipment, then he does have the right to sell them. But he does NOT have the right to take or sell anything that he did not buy himself.
JoAnn, If Mom gives the brother the 280 acres before she dies, she is giving away her income for the rest of her life. The brother is doing the actual farming and then paying Mom "cash rent" after harvest. In other words, the brother sells the grain and then he PAYS MOM a percentage of the PROFITS from selling the corn, soybeans, wheat, whatever, which is Mom's income for the year. Right now, Mom is living in the farm house on an "acreage." If Mom has to go into a nursing home, she will be "private pay" and the farm may have to be sold to pay for the nursing home.
Staffbull, do I have your situation figured out correctly?
Why couldn't Mom have given him his share before her death?
Your dad died, yes?
So his will has been probated and is in effect?
Dad's will left farm to mom.
So the provision that entailed mom dying first is not under consideration (also termed "moot")
So, dad's will's provisions must be followed.
Mom's last will and testament will come into play WHEN she dies.
If she is still competent to execute legal documents, she can change her will now.
I'm not sure what your brother was expecting when your dad died; did he not think that mom would need to be taken care of by dad's will? In my opinion, NO child whose parent dies with a dependent spouse should expect "their" inheritance at that time. Both parents need to have passed on.
That is why I'm thinking that your brother is dealing with longstanding mental issues.
I wouldn't put much stock in the way anyone's face looked as your mom was being medivacced.
Did your brother not understand that dad's will would need to provide for mom? He sounds very immature, and possibly mentally ill.
Has that occurred to you?