John Smith was born and raised on a farm. He is 46 years old now and thought he would die on the family farm as his father before him did. John and his Mother had shared earnings of the farm ever since John was 8 years old and doing farm work like a man, because his Father was dying of Emphysema. As John got older and making a living on a farm got harder, John worked a full time job plus worked on the family farm late hours into the night. John thought that the farm would be left to him in the unfortunate case that his Mother might die. Not only did he think this, but this is what he was told up until his mother had to go in for By Pass surgery about 3 years ago. His Mother came through the surgery fine, but afterwards had a major stroke. John and his wife took care of his Mother on the Family farm for about a year. It got to the point that they could not care for her at home any longer. As John’s Mother lay in the hospital bed, the family was called in to help support the decision on their mother’s care. This is when John’s world was torn up from around him. It was decided that the Family farm would be sold, even though there was a will signed by his Mother that John would inherit the farm. Fortunately John’s Mother is still living; unfortunately it was decided to sell the farm. John tried to buy the farm, but too many financial situations got in the way.

John and his wife and children now live on a farmette outside of Arlington, where they raise performance horses. The acres are 5 owned and 10 rented acres.

Although this was an unfortunate incident, similar incidents have and do happen in our growing world today. As one farmer put it, “My siblings decided that it wasn’t in my best interest to carry on my family’s farming tradition”. Too many times, we think that our world is protected, but in this incident it wasn’t. Too many lawyers, twisted stories, changed wills and Power of Attorneys were involved. For anyone who needs to know what their rights are to their family farm call an attorney and do what ever it takes to save the piece of land that you cherish and that is getting more and sparser. For Help and Support visit this website: http://ffsn.wsu.edu/farming.html. It is The Farm Family Support Network, and is designed to help farmers in similar situations as John Smith’s