Farms/ inheritance/ third generations!? Any help

[Hollyhock]

Has anyone any experience of how passing on family farming estates works when it comes to the third generation and there are 10 entitled grandchildren, 2 who work and run the estate. The estate is too small to be split ten ways, non-viable if split into 10 shares and any one person sells a share, not rich enough to buy the others out, and only makes enough profit to support the two families who have choosen to work on it (all 10 were given the option). None of the remaining children are trying to claim capital but we want to handle it in a fair way which poses the lowest risk to the long term life of the farm....
Any experiences???

 

[jeeve]

My uncle sold his farm rather than leaving it/selling to one of his three sons, who all worked hard on it while they were growing up (or his two daughters) or splitting it.

My grandmother left her farm to the one son that had stayed at home and farmed it he never married, but the other 5 kids got a small amount each in cash. It was a little unfair, but then having said that this uncle when he died, left the money to be split between the remaining siblings (3 or 4 left by then).
Which was a big help for them at this point of time. So it turned out alright.

I think that selling it and keeping it in one portion, while difficult sometimes is the best way to go.