Father’s Gift of Tractor Cultivates Lawsuit

The father and his son had a rocky relationship for many years until they made peace and began farming together. The father owned an International 766 tractor.  The tractor was sitting out in a field, unused at the time the father purchased a newer model. After the son repaired the old tractor, his father allowed him to use the tractor for haying and some farming. The tractor eventually was put out to pasture once again where it remained for several years. In the meantime, the father contracted cancer and did not see his son for some time due to his health issues. During this time, the son needed a job and asked to use the tractor again for haying if he could repair it. The father told the son he could keep the tractor if he got it running.

After the father died, his estate property was to be auctioned. The son first told his brother, the executor of the estate, that he was going to buy the tractor at the auction. After being treated badly by his family, however, the son told the brother that the decedent had given the tractor to him and it could not be sold. The son filed a temporary injunction to prevent the tractor from being auctioned off, which was granted. After a hearing on the son’s application for a permanent injunction, the district court held that the son had proven that his father had gifted the tractor to him and entered a permanent injunction barring the estate from selling the son’s tractor.

The estate appealed. The appellate court agreed the son met his burden of proof that the tractor had been given to him and affirmed the order. In doing so, the court gave significant weight to the district court’s credibility determinations at the hearing. 

The case demonstrates why it is important to ensure loans and gifts to children are specifically addressed in estate planning documents. If the parent’s intention is not made clear, then the children are left to sort out through the court system what that actual intention might have been. In re Estate of Curran, No. 2-173/11-0931, 2012 Iowa App. LEXIS 410 (Iowa Ct. App. May 23, 2012).