Monthly Archives: October 2022

Pasture, Range, and Forage (“Rainfall”) Insurance Deadline December 1

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The Pasture, Range, and Forage Insurance (PRF) deadline to sign up for coverage for 2023 is on December 1.  Often referred to as “rainfall insurance,” this product can be a useful risk management tool for landowners and livestock producers.  The product provides insurance coverage for grazing pastures, rangeland, and perennial forage acres. Essentially, PRF allows a landowner to insure a certain percentage of historic rainfall in the area where they own property.  If the actual rainfall in the area falls below the insured percentage, the landowner receives an… Read More →

What Happens When You Are Late Probating a Will?

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When a widow was told by an attorney she did not need to probate her husband’s will, but learned 11 years later she should have done so, what happens?  This was the issue facing the Austin Court of Appeals in Castillo v. Castillo-Wall.  [Read Opinion here.] Applicable Law Section 256.003(a) of the Texas Estates Code provides:  “A will may not be admitted to probate after the fourth anniversary of the testator’s death unless it is show by proof that the applicant for the probate of the will was not… Read More →

Webinar – Fence Laws: Corralling Legal Issues & Livestock

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Fence law is one of the topics about which I get the most questions.  It is also the topic about which I think there may be the most misinformation.  In light of that, I teamed up with Rusty Rumley from the National Agricultural Law Center to host a webinar about fence law.  You can view the recording here. For those of you in Texas, we’ve got a couple of additional resources. First, we have a short handbook written for Texas landowners and livestock owners outlining the key fence… Read More →

October 14, 2022 Weekly Round Up

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Happy Friday!  It has been a busy couple of weeks in the ag law world. *US Supreme Court hears oral argument in two key cases.  The US Supreme Court heard oral argument in two key ag-related cases.  First, on October 3, 2022, the Justices heard argument in Sackett v. EPA, a case looking at the proper test for determining whether a wetland is considered a “water of the United States” under the Clean Water Act.  [Read more here.]  To listen to the recording of this argument or read the… Read More →

Did the Life Estate Conveyance Include the Minerals?

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In 2020, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in ConocoPhillips Co. v. Ramirez, 599 S.W.3d 296 (Tex. 2020), a case involving the interpretation of a life estate and whether the creation of the life estate applied only to the surface interest, or to the minerals as well. Background  Ildefonzo Ramirez died in 1941. He left his two children, Leon Juan and Felicidad, a total of 7,016 acres in Zapata County. Not all tracts of the estate were contiguous. Months after Ildefonzo’s death, the two siblings partitioned the surface… Read More →

New Mexico Supreme Court: Public May Access Streams on Private Property

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The New Mexico Supreme Court faced the following question in Adobe Whitewater Club of New Mexico v. New Mexico State Game Commission: Does the right to recreate and fish in public water also allow the public the right to touch the privately owned beds below those waters? Background Under the New Mexico Constitution, “the unappropriated water of every natural stream, perennial or torrential, within the state of New Mexico, is hereby declared to belong to the public.”  In 1945, the New Mexico Supreme Court held this Constitutional provision… Read More →