‘Our son has spent 15 years working on the farm and has invested in it, so he deserves to inherit it. How do I make sure the farm doesn’t get divided up? Should I transfer it to him now?’
‘If you die without making a will, your wife would be entitled to two-thirds of your estate, and your children to the remaining one third equally between them’ Photo: Brian Farrell
Query: Dear Mary Frances, I am in my late 60s and have been farming all my life on land that originally belonged to my parents. I married my wife in the early 1980s. Twelve years ago she moved out of the family home and has been living with a new partner since.
We never divorced and haven’t had any formal legal separation. We just agreed she would leave and I would continue farming. Things were tense for a while, but we have reached a kind of unspoken peace and only deal with each other through the children if needed.