OP, similar situation with in laws and their land trust that have crooked property managers who were not transparent and drew zero net profit balances each month for years. As previous posters recommended, get a real estate attorney who deals with trusts or a trust attorney who deals with real estate. Good luck! I feel for you.

Rent on farmland isn't exactly a quick route to riches. $100/acre is probably very generous, and even assuming all 40 acres are arable also is probably overly so as well.

So, rent is likely 4 grand at best. From which you pay taxes, upkeep on any buildings, insurance, mowing for any labs that isn't farmed or leased, etc etc. So...not much in profit at the end of the day.

Thanks for the advice Im going to consult an attorney.

I would get a lawyer's advice and then frame all your requests for information from your aunt in the context of "my lawyer needs the following info in order to set up the trust for Susie" (even if it's really you that wants that information/documentation).

If you can find a sympathetic lawyer and explain your situation hopefully s/he can help you tactfully expose the truth here and help get management of the land into the right hands, or at least force transparency.

Having seen this played out to disastrous consequences in my family, please get a good lawyer, and then open the discussion with compassion. Folks do all kinds of stupid, mean things when money or land is at stake, yet at the end of the day, they are your family.

What I would insist on is transparency from now on. It seems as if profits may have been pissed away for years, but the past is the past.

You probably want the people to keep gardening on the land. That means it is probably zoned as agricultural and thust he taxes are much much lower.

My family has some land. We let people farm on it and don't get much profit in return. Our "profit" is low land taxes.

Has all of this land legally been subdivided? If not this is going to get pretty messy. If they left your 2 acres out of 49 but the land is all titled together what you are proposing isn't really quite as easy as what you propose. You actually likely need a real estate attorney b

As much as I hate getting lawyers involved, sounds like you need to.

Yes, do not call her before you find a good lawyer. Don't take any action except on the advice of your attorney.

I'd throw the question open to the dcum community for advice on the best way to go about retaining the best quality legal counsel.

Do NOT divulge your thoughts or actions or search for counsel to anybody in your family or in this community. For sure the news of all your doings will get back to relatives who have different interests and alliances.

Long story short I'm about to have a conversation with a relative who has been managing our family land for more than 25 yrs. I was raised by my grandmother and grandfather and in their will they left 2 acres and at the time their house and possessions to me. This was only a small portion of the forty acres of land that was left to their remaining children including my mother. The house is no longer on the land . The forty acres of land is farmed out but there is no transparency. Meaning the relative that manages the land doesn't share any information with anyone in the family. There is an account that receives deposits from the farmer for the rental but we know nothing of profits and are told the money is used to pay the taxes on the land.

The person (an aunt) managing took the role from the family member (an great uncle) who was suppose to oversee. He was elderly and has been deceased more than twenty years but the day after my grandmother died she put herself in charge. For decades the day after my grandmother died she came in the house and took over the finances and removed all documents including the family checkbook.I lived there until I went to college and my grandfather would say she was spending his money. For decades I wanted to not believe this was true and our very large family doesn't want to have a broken up extended family so they refused to get involved.

I always thought my grandmother had left her in charge but I got a copy of the will last week and she was not. She also took over the estate of the relative who was supposed to manage the land since he was elderly and gave his property to her daughter after she placed him in a nursing home. He died more than twenty years ago. She had no authority to do this but she did. This is very painful because she is very close to me and has been my whole life. I'm a new mom and doing my will for my daughter. I will be calling this relative to explain that I will be submitting the paperwork with the state and county so I will be responsible for the taxes on the two acres. She currently allows someone to garden on part of the land that belongs to me. Any input or advice to make this a clear and positive conversation. I don't want to leave this mess for my daughter to deal with but I also want an intact extended family. Anyone else has something similar or helpful.