Q: Our mom died now my sister and I are the equal owners of her trust. I have a 25 year contract to farm the almonds
The lease states: “if the property is sold during the term of the lease the lease shall terminate and the lessee shall be entitled to the sum of $5000 per year for all years remaining on the lease as liquidated damages.”
If I buy the property before the lease is over does the trust owe me money because of the early out?
A:
You should have an attorney review the lease, the contract, and the trust, as well as other real estate documents.
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A: You don't say with whom you have a lease. If you inherited the lease from your mom, it wouldn't make sense for your mother to lease the land from herself. If you had a lease with your mother, it is possible that you are owed that money from the trust, but a lawyer would have to read the lease and the trust in order to give you a proper response. The reason is that terms are defined in contracts to mean specific things so if we use the plain English definition of those words, we will get a different answer than if we use the definition the contract provides. Sorry about that! Best wishes.
Lubna Khan Jahangiri agrees with this answer
A: The language of the trust seems strange. It penalizes the lessee for lessor's actions, creating an ostensibly absurd result. I agree with the other lawyers. The trust documents need to be reviewed in their entirety in order to make sense.
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