Conservation Easements Tax and Real Estate Planning for Landowners and Advisors

Historical form documents are often employed when an attorney is negotiating a conservation easement. This decision might not be the attorney's choice but based instead on the land trust's comfort with these established agreements. However, to competently advise clients considering an easement donation or sale, these documents require a deeper understanding of the statutory, regulatory, and common-law principles at play in conservation easement transactions as well as a working knowledge of how to use the available resources in this complex field.

Conservation Easements: Tax and Real Estate Planning for Landowners and Advisorsprovides attorneys with an additional resource to the area's earlier established texts as well as a growing number of online sources. In particular, this book offers an invaluable collection of tips and techniques learned from the author's decades of conservation easement practice. This book provides attorneys and their clients with an understanding of the broad scope of conservation easement law, appropriate both for practitioners unfamiliar with the complexities of the subject as well as for those with more experience who are looking for specific guidance. Topics covered include:

• The statutorily allowed conservation purposes required for tax deductibility
• When limited development might be allowable on easement-encumbered land
• Tax consequences of conservation easements
• Easement valuation and appraisal
• The roles of each participant in the transaction, including individuals, estates, land trusts, and governmental entities
• Issues that may arise under tax law both during easement formation and over the life of the easement
• Concerns that may arise over the life of the easement
• Funding sources for conservation actions

To learn how the book's information is applied in practice, the book features four conservation easements in actual use, along with a recap of practical drafting tips and helpful IRS materials. Appendices are also provided on an accompanying CD-ROM.