Death, and taxes: In Western communities with runaway land values, even estate planning can't keep the farm in the family
August 11, 2008 | High Country News
by Jennie Lay
Diane Holly's cattle ranch lies six miles west of this cowboy-friendly ski town in the mountains of northwest Colorado. During her 52 years, she's seen the trip to town shrink by a full four miles. Steamboat Springs is sprawling westward, filling the valley with high-end developments, haphazard ranchettes and a few lagging attempts at affordable-housing subdivisions.
Fittingly known as the Overlook Ranch, Holly's 1886 homestead property borders the Yampa River, encompassing 1,800 acres of lush hay meadows and prime grazing land. Its healthy elk herds support lucrative private hunts in the fall. This is land she hopes to see her three children work one day. But during the past decade, as properties like this have become coveted acreage for second homes and private recreational retreats, area ranchland prices have more than quadrupled. As a result, ranch inheritors who want to keep their land in the family often must come up with hundreds of thousands -- or even millions -- of dollars in estate taxes. Many heirs have little choice but to sell.
