How I was called to do a survey

Several years ago I received a call from a nice fellow to survey a two acre tract as an island out of an 80-acre tract. It was to separate an existing house from the remainder of property as the result of a divorce. The wife was to have the house and two acres and the husband was to have the pasture land and old farm buildings.

Why I had to do the survey is the fun part of this story. The divorce had become quite bitter by the time they had to appear before the judge to get matters settled. The wife knew the husband wanted that 80-acre tract. They had lived in the house for several years but both abandoned it when they separated. The house deteriorated rapidly. In fact, a bobcat somehow managed to get inside and lived there until it died because it couldn't get back out. At the divorce hearing the wife's attorney presented evidence that the house was still worth a great deal of money. The judge asked the husband what he thought. The husband responded with, "I wouldn't give 50 cents for that pile of junk!" So the judge immediately awarded the house and two acres to the wife, counting that as a 50 cent value to her side of things.

The husband had to pay for my survey. Then he had to pay a second time to have me come out and lay out a judge-approved location for an access easement so the wife could get to the house. I heard later that she got over $50,000 from a buyer for that tract.