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above-quoted principle. A parcel, one-half of which had a value
of $3 million to $4 million, would easily bear a $200,000
partition cost. In addition, as of decedent’s death, his
coowner’s share was held in trust for the 97-year-old widow of
the former owner, and neither owner was a resident-farmer at that
time. The beneficial owners were the heirs of the owner/farmers
who were not actively farming the property. Those circumstances,
known at the time of decedent’s death, make it less likely that
partition would be necessary. That is especially so where great
disparity exists between the values of the land when comparing
its use for agricultural and residential purposes.
Hulberg used a conglomeration of four different approaches
to arrive at the amount of discount he used to account for
decedent’s partial interest. First, he discussed a “Company
Survey Method”, which Hulberg described as a “survey of companies
in the business of purchasing and selling partnerships.” Our
review of Hulberg’s analysis indicates that the partnerships
involved were dissimilar to the Busch property situation. The
information was derived from the purchase and sale of general
partnership interests, a format different from the Busch property
ownership, which was simply a coownership in real property with
no partnership business or operational type activity.
9(...continued)
fee rate, represents 1,000 hours to accomplish partition.
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