Buying Hunting Land As A Group

The five men had just finished their camp dinner. They began pulling their chairs closer to the fire pit where they had enjoyed conversations for years. The fire began to blaze a little higher. It was a cool evening for the end of an April turkey hunting trip. The fire felt good, and it kept some of the mosquitoes at bay. John spoke, asking the group if they had all gotten the letter about their lease. This would be their last season together on this property as the land had been sold to a company that did not allow hunting leases.

“I wish we could just buy our own place,” John said. “We could buy just enough land to be able to deer and turkey hunt and wouldn’t need to worry about what the timber company was going to do the next year.”

The idea was born. What would the hunters need to do? They all knew each other well and had hunted together as friends for the past 10 years. Everyone had their own idiosyncrasies, but they had learned to live with them, and they trusted each other. All were good sportsmen. All followed the game laws and participated on workdays with food plots and fixing roads or cutting shooting lanes.

What did they know about each other’s finances? Could they own something together and stay friends? What if one of them moved away, or got a divorce, or worse yet, died? How would that work as far as ownership? What if they had to finance the purchase and one or two of the guys could not keep up the payments? Frank had enough money to buy whatever they needed—what if he bought property and financed the rest of the group? Could that work?

The truth is, even within families, it is difficult at best for two or more people to own a parcel of land without first agreeing as to how things will be handled. You must then write it all down. Make provisions as to how those plans can change. Then there are legal aspects to ownership that must be considered. Some of the legal aspects as to how you hold the land—such as Tenants In Common or Joint Tenants, and if there is a Right of Survivorship included.

When deciding how the group will own the property, you have to decide if you will identify what part of the property is owned by each individual, or will each individual own an undetermined part of the whole. For example: Buck Snort Hunt Club buys 100 acres. All 10 members equally invest $20,000 for a total of $200,000. Will each member own a specific 10 acres, or will each member own an equal and undivided share of the whole?

Tenants In Common (TIC) is beneficial for unrelated parties because you call the shots about who inherits your share of the property. It may have to go through probate, but with clear instructions in a will, it should not be a problem. In the event you put up a higher percentage than others, you own to that percentage. An additional benefit is that you can sell your share any time you want, without the consent or approval of your partners. You also have the right to mortgage, transfer or assign your interest, as do your partners.

That can also be dangerous.

Joint Tenants, or Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS), generally means that all parties own 100% of the property, and there is no divided interest as there is with TIC. The “rights of survivorship” clause means that the property passes directly to the other party outside of a will. This can be an excellent benefit to ensure that the property does not go through probate. Unlike TIC, however, one tenant cannot sell their interest in the property, because they have an undivided 100% interest. Any sale must have the consent of all parties. If you choose this form, make sure you know what it means and what all the restrictions could mean in the future.

Right off the bat, you need to understand how you will title the property to avoid ownership questions in the future. Next time we can consider what happens if there is a bankruptcy, divorce, death, job changes—basically life events. We will discuss how to work through this before you set out to find that perfect piece of land.

John says, “Let’s call someone who knows what they are talking about, so we don’t make a costly mistake.”