Wills and Trusts
About Wills and Trusts as Conservation
Mechanisms
Wills and testamentary trusts (that is, trusts used,
like wills, to leave your estate to someone) can be
employed to place conservation restrictions on
property. In bequeathing your property to your heirs,
you can choose to add to the terms of the will or trust
conservation stipulations that are exactly the same as
those that could be written into a Restrictive Covenant
or a Conservation Easement (see both The Conservation Easement and
The Restrictive Covenant. We are
advised, however, that stipulations in a will or
testamentary trust are more easily attackable in
court in future years than are the stipulations in
a Conservation Easement, which cannot be altered.
What To Do
Your will or testamentary trust will be prepared by
your attorney, so the most important task will be
either to seek an attorney familiar with conservation
issues or to be prepared to educate your attorney in
that area. For this purpose, it might be good to
familiarize yourself with some typical stipulations in
Restrictive Covenants and Conservation Easements. Your
SRA contact person may be able to help you in these
tasks.
Contact
SRA contact for Wills and Trusts: Joyce and Ron Sousa
at joyce@scenicricevilleadvocates.org