> Should have left it as the will stated, looks to me like there was much thought in determining the corner location. As it was, each tract had one pond and access to a shared pond. Water is valuable in arid areas.
Actually, all of the parties say that the intent was to make sure that each of the three tracts had a good stock tank on it. The tanks on the 45.00 acre and 42.36 acre tracts are, in fact, pretty good. The one on the west side of the 90.00 acres isn't that great. The arrangement of pasture fences suggests that the father thought that the tank that the corner fell in would be on the 90.00 acres he'd described.
Since it didn't, it was a task of finding a scheme that all of the parties found acceptable, and which also would put their father's instructions for the division into effect. BTW, as I mentioned to Alan, the land actually passed to his surviving spouse. His instructions were more in the way of recommendations for how she ought to eventually convey the land in pieces to their three kids.
Kent
> I see you posted on the cities rules, so I take it this is within a city?
Yes, it's within a general law city.
> Alan, The will was entered for probate. The interesting wrinkle is that the testator bequeathed his interest in the land to his spouse, in whom title is presently vested, but he gave details instructions as to how he thought it should be divided among their kids that were in effect suggestions. The widow and kids have been working to give their father's suggestions effect, but, of course, in a way that is most consistent with his intentions.
Kent,
Okay, then. It looks as though you had some latitude on placing the division lines for the tracts.
My thought was that at some point down the line, strict attention may have been given to the division line being parallel with the West Line of Tract 19 to cut off exactly 90 acres, thus causing some ambiguity. I was just thinking that cutting off the 90 acres, 45 acres, and resulting residue tract by adhering to strictly parallel lines and then doing some exchange deeds between the three parties might have avoided that possibility.
> In Ontario, we used to have *cumbag *awyers lining up at the nursing homes with paperwork to effect severances of lands by will, on a 'manufactured' transfer of land from a health party (wishing to divide land) to a dying one.
Derek, you Canadians are very ingenious. I suspect that whatever ingenuity exists in New England is just what was left over from the exodus to Canada.
As for the weather report, you'll be thrilled to hear that it was a lovely fall day in Central Texas. I met the client at the 177.36 acres and showed him where the various corners fell. Just for the record, he liked the way the lines arranged around the stock tank looked on the ground pretty much as well as I did.
> My thought was that at some point down the line, strict attention may have been given to the division line being parallel with the West Line of Tract 19 to cut off exactly 90 acres, thus causing some ambiguity. I was just thinking that cutting off the 90 acres, 45 acres, and resulting residue tract by adhering to strictly parallel lines and then doing some exchange deeds between the three parties might have avoided that possibility.
Yes, if the father had bequeathed the land to his kids in the parts described, it certainly would have required a different type of exercise to reconfigure them as I have.
It's usually better to keep the number of braces in a fence line to a minimum. It's cheaper and the fence will hold up better if the angled solution Kent came up with is followed. If the first solution is to be used there would be an almost impossible fencing scheme to lay out. Maybe a squared area around the pond with gates to let in the stock. That wouldn't work very well.
Kent
That would explain the 212 cite. Do they have a subdivision ordinance that will supersede the state minimum?
Its probably irrelevant as you noted the size of the tracts and levels of consignuity and affinity you mention.
For Kent
STOCK TANK
from Google Images.
Water Trough
> STOCK TANK
Perry, that is what is known as a water trough. I realize that up in the smallish states of New England, ordinary Texas-sized stock tanks won't fit so you have to use those minature bath-tub-sized versions that can be hauled in like the one you found above. Of course, the other obvious problem is that you probably don't have the sort of clay which we happen to have in abundance that it takes to line a good stock tank.
The ultimate source of knowledge---besides me, that is
Wikipedia:
A stock tank is used to provide drinking water for animals such as cattle or horses. Stock tanks can range in size from 30 to over 1500 gallons and typically are made of galvanized steel. These tanks are filled either by a pump, windmill, creek, spring, or even rely on runoff water from rain or melting snow.
There are thousands of water ponds in Texas rangelands that locals call a 'tank'. When the weather is hot some people use them for swimming.
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Now we know where Kent takes his annual bath.
In the Northern Milking Parlors
> There are thousands of water ponds in Texas rangelands that locals call a 'tank'. When the weather is hot some people use them for swimming.
Actually, what you should have learned is that in the cattle country of Texas a stock tank is something that looks more or less like this:
The downhill feature is known as a "tank dam".
Now, in those milking parlors up North, they may even call a cattle trough a "stock tank", but now you'll know what a real stock tank looks like.
Something that predates Wikipedia
Not to trying to get into the middle of all this, but Texans refer to these as "tanks" because the early Spanish referred to them as "tanques" or "huecos". Try the link below for an interesting story on the Hueco Tanks to the Northeast of El Paso, Texas.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/hueco_tanks/
Something that predates Wikipedia
Thanks for the origination of the term.
Interesting site.
Just like in New Orleans, one must know what 'banquette' or 'neutral ground' mean and not necessarily the Wiki definition.
Something that predates Wikipedia
> Not to trying to get into the middle of all this, but Texans refer to these as "tanks" because the early Spanish referred to them as "tanques" or "huecos".
Yes, and the workers who dug them were known as "tanqueros".
Something that predates Wikipedia
That is a beautiful area, we used to go there when we lived in Las Cruces. I think a certain CC from El Paso has probably done quite a bit of rock climbing there as well.
