Conservation Easement Preservation

When a conservation easement is placed on a property, it typically lowers the property's value for federal estate tax purposes and may decrease estate tax liability. Therefore, easements may help heirs avoid being forced to sell off land to pay estate taxes and enable land to stay in the family.

In a conservation easement, a landowner voluntarily agrees to sell or donate certain rights associated with his or her property often the right to subdivide or develop and a private organization or public agency agrees to hold the right to enforce the landowner's promise not to exercise those rights.

An agricultural conservation easement is a voluntary, legally recorded deed restriction that is placed on a specific property used for agricultural production.Such an easement prohibits practices that would damage or interfere with the agricultural use of the land.

Affirmative agricultural easements are one of several different legal tools to help farmers balance goals of: 1) generating revenue for farming or retirement; 2) making their land more affordable to future farmers; 3) keeping their farmland in farming; and 4) maintaining a treasured legacy of sustainable farm

(a) A conservation easement is an interest in real property voluntarily created and freely transferable in whole or in part for the purposes stated in Section 815.1 by any lawful method for the transfer of interests in real property in this state.

One big advantage of buying a home or land with an easement is that it could result in major savings. Conservation land is restrictive by nature, and that's often a big sticking point for buyers. But if you're willing to deal with those restrictions, it could be a good way to buy land or property on the cheap.

When you create a conservation easement, you may lose access to certain rights. While you'll likely retain certain surface rights like farming and ranching, development is almost always limited.