Problems When A Farmer Divorces

Divorce in any family is traumatic but for a farming family it can lead to a host of extra problems as work and family are so entwined. A farmer cannot leave home and drive off in a car to work elsewhere.

For a start the farmhouse is home, office, workshop, factory, inheritance and many other things rolled into one. Most of the farmers I know see what they do as more than work. They genuinely feel they are custodians of their land for future generations. So when a farmer comes into my office wanting a divorce there are many additional factors to be considered.

The first one is to understand the history of the land. Where did the farm come from? Was it bought, or inherited, and if so from which side of the family, or was it from both?

The next issue is who owns the land and runs the business? Sometimes it is the same people, sometimes it is not. Many Cornish farmers are keen for their children to join the farming partnership running the business, but are reluctant to hand over the ownership of the land.

When the farm is also owned by other members of the family, such as brothers, sisters and their partners, they too have a stake in the farm’s future.

So a farming divorce generates a wide range of specific issues needing knowledge of divorce law, partnership law and trust law, together with a good grasp of all farming rules and regulations. Coming from a farming family, I understand how these things work. Otherwise, I would find it difficult to unravel the tangle involved.

A divorce for a farming couple starts at the same point as with any other divorce. What are the needs of the couple and the children and how to provide a home for everyone? If the assets are more than required for this then the judge will start with an equal division of the assets and then consider the factors that could vary this.

The first factor is inheritance and then the needs of the business. The court will not simply sell a farm to give money to one partner and deprive the other. At this point you need to find creative solutions as it is no good, for example, having the wife in the farmhouse and the husband using all of the yards and surrounding buildings. This is a recipe for disaster !

Farming divorces require a specific knowledge. If you are a farmer considering divorce, firstly think long and hard about your decision and secondly make sure that the lawyer you use really understands the nature of farming as well as divorce law.

Contact Mark Chanter for further information or advice.

Published 20/10/2008. The author of this article is Mark Chanter