LAW AND THE FARMER. JACOB H. BEUSCHER Professor of Law, University of lrilcon.sin. THIRD EDITION. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Transcription

1 LAF AND THE FARMER

2 LAW AND THE FARMER JACOB H. BEUSCHER Professor of Law, University of lrilcon.sin. THIRD EDITION Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

3 First Edition, 1953 Second Edition, 1956 Third Edition, 1960 Copyright 1960 SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA NEW YORK ORIGINALLY PliBLISHED BY SPRINGER PUBUSHING COMPANY, INC IN 1960 SOFTCOYER REPRINT OF THE HARDCOVER 3RD EDITION 1960 ISBN DOI / ISBN (ebook) ALL RIGHTS RESERYED Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: Type set at The Polyglot Press, New York

4 Preface At the University of Wisconsin a close working relationship be tween the Law School and the College of Agriculture has brought me into frequent and stimulating contact with agricultural economists and rural sociologists. I am proud to count some of these able men as close friends. Since 1947 I have been teaching a course in farm law to future farmers, county agents, agricultural specialists and vocational agriculture teachers. At the Law School we have been running law-in-action studies trying to determine how rules of law in the books actually operate in various important instances: transferring the farm from one generation to the next; operating the farm under father-son agreements; using farm personal property as a source of credit; drafting canner-grower contracts; administer ing milk control orders; the operation of rural land use controls. I have teamed up with agricultural college people in rural zoning and agricultural extension work. Consequently I have had the stimulation of many discussions about farm legal problems with agricultural extension personnel, vocational agriculture teachers, G. I. on-the-farm trainers and trainees, farm short course students, groups of farm people and individual farmers. This work and these experiences convinced me that there is need for a book of this kind. Over and over I have found great interest and a real thirst for information about law as it relates to the farming business. There is ample evidence that ignorance of the law leads constantly to costly mistakes. There is genuine con cern that young people being trained for farming or farm advisory jobs are not being taught how to protect themselves from such mistakes. All the groups with whom I have talked are anxious to know enough about the law to be able to detect an incipient legal ache or pain so that timely expert help can be sought. The book that meets these needs must be readable, it must have continuity and above all technical language must be kept strictly v

5 vi PREFACE in hand. Such a book must he content with the important problems, avoiding the confusion inevitable in encylopedic coverage. It needs hundreds of specific illustrations to illumine general rules. It also needs to get behind the rules, to explain their historical antecedents, why they are here today, what they are intended to accomplish and, to the extent possible, how they actually operate. In short, it needs to make law live for the reader. In 1951 I wrote Farm Law in Wisconsin which many were generous enough to say met this bill of particulars. This has encouraged me to venture this national book. The arrangement of the Wisconsin book is retained because it permits functional treatment of problems as they come up in life and avoids discussing legal con cepts in the order they happen to be discussed in the law books. For example, the material in Part III dealing with the transfer of the family farm is gathered together in six chapters which blend one into the other, whereas in a legal encyclopedia it would he collected under the diverse headings of partnerships, corporations, gifts, contracts, mortgages, descent, distribution, wills, inheritance taxes and the like. Though I have relied on the Wisconsin book for arrangement, diversity of legal rules among our forty-eight states has required that most of this book be written afresh. By grouping states I have tried to give the reader a picture of the differing patterns of these rules without losing him in a morass of diverse detail. In describing inheritance rights, requirements for making wills and inheritance taxes, I have resorted to tables giving specific information for each state. And sometimes I have tried to clarify by telling in detail how a rule actually operates in a particular place. The problems which follow most chapters are intended primarily for classroom use, but other readers may find them helpful checks on understanding. The footnotes have been kept to a minimum. They are provided for those who wish to read more widely on particular topics. The forms at the end of the book are Wisconsin in origin. I had the choice of selecting forms from a variety of states, of preparing forms that might he acceptable in several states, or of oftering forms from a single state only. In the interests of consistency and because the forms are offered for illustrative purposes only, I chose the latter.

6 PREFACE vii I know there is a need for this book. I have tried hard to fill il And in making this attempt I have, I hope, related law to life so that it will take on color for the reader and not seem cold, arbitrary and conscienceless, but a living, vital part of our social order. Madison, Wisconsin February 1953 J. H. BEUSCHER Preface to the Third Edition Since publication of the second edition of this book in 1956, extensive changes have been made in the Old Age Survivorship Insurance program by the Federal Congress. The affected portion of Chapter 18 has therefore been completely rewritten to keep abreast of the latest amendments. Table 8 has also undergone major revision: the State by State Summary of Widow's and Widower's Inheritance Rights is up to date and includes pertinent infonnation on Alaska and Hawaii. I have been wanned by the many flattering reviews of both the first and second editions of this book. They give me cause for continued hope that the book will help make law understandable to the reader. February 1960 J. H. B.

7 PREFACE PAUONI Contents Gettlae our learlne about Law 1. LAW, AND HOW IT IS MADE 2. COURTS AS LAW MAKERS 3. SOME IMPORTANT DIVISIONS OF THE LAW v PAaffWO L.. al Proltl when Acqulrlne or Tran1ferring a Farm 4. ACQUIRING A FARM CONTRACT LAW IMPORTANT TO THE PURCHASE OF A FARM REAL PROPERTY LAW IMPORTANT TO THE PURCHASE OF A FARM APPLYING CONTRACT AND REAL PROPERTY LAW TO THE PURCHASE OF A FARM THE DEED, LAND DESCRIPTIONS AND THE RECORD lng SYSTEM THE FARM LEASE 117 PAaffHIII ll'lllllforrlae tho Family Farm from One Generation to tho Next 10. THE FAMILY FARM TRANSFER PROBLEM FATHER AND SON OPERATING AGREEMENTS FARM TRANSFERS WHICH BECOME EFFECTIVE WHILE THE PARENT IS STILL ALIVE TRANSFERS ON DEATH WHERE THERE IS NO WILL TRANSFERS OF THE FAMILY FARM BY WILL PROBATE PROCEDURE GIFT AND DEATH TAXES WHICH APPLY TO FARM TRANSFERS 213

8 PART four Legal Problems when Operating a Farm 17. REGULATION OF THE FARMING BUSINESS TAXATION OF THE FARMING BUSINESS UNSECURED FARM DEBTS SECURED FARM DEBTS THE FARMER AS A CREDITOR AND SELLER BOUNDARIES, FENCES AND WATER RIGHTS TRESPASSING, ANIMALS AND STRAYS A FARMER'S DUTY TO BE CAREFUL 359 APPENDIX OFFER TO PURCHASE FARM 364 LAND CONTRACT 365 WARRANTY DEED 367 QUIT CLAIM DEED 369 REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE 370 SAMPLE ABSTRACT OF TITLE 372 STOCK SHARE LEASE 376 ANOTHER FORM OF SHARE LEASE 381 FARM LEASE CHECK LIST 385 CHECK LIST FOR FARM INCOME TAX DEPRECIATION 388 CHECK LIST OF FARM EXPENSES 390 CHECK LIST OF FARM INCOME 391 RECORD FOR FIGURING DEPRECIATION 392 TWO FORMS OF PROMISSORY NOTES 393 CHATTEL MORTGAGE 394 INDEX 397