Conservation Tax Center Law Library

38 Expert Publications articles were found for Conservation Easements

Conservation Easement Audit Techniques Guide
By: IRS
This guide has been designed by the IRS to help private landowners create valid and enforceable conservation easements that will be upheld through an audit.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Conservation-Easement-Audit-Techniques-Guide/885/

Conservation Easements - Biodiversity Protection and Private Use
By: Adena R. Rissman, Lynn Lozier, Tosha Comendant, Peter Kareiva, Joseph M. Kiesecker, M. Rebecca Shaw, and Adina M. Merenlender
Conservation easements are one of the primary tools for conserving biodiversity on private land. Despite their increasing use, little quantitative data are available on what species and habitats conservation easements aim to protect, how much structural development they allow, or what types of land use they commonly permit.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Conservation-Easements--Biodiversity-Protection-and-Private-Use/1329/

Proper and Improper Deductions for Conservation Easement Donations, Including Developer Donations
By: Stephen J. Small, Esq.
In this comprehensive article, Boston attorney Stephen J. Small notes that a small number of bad conservation easement deals threaten to poison the well for otherwise successful, appropriate, and important private land conservation transactions if IRS enforcement is not targeted at the promoters, appraisers, and others engaged in the bad deals. Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Proper-and-Improper-Deductions-for-Conservation-Easement-Donations-Including-Developer-Donations/193/

Questionable Conservation Easement Donations
By: Nancy McLaughlin
Since 1980, a landowner who donates a qualifying conservation easement to a government agency or charitable conservation organization has been eligible for a charitable income tax deduction generally equal to the value of the easement under Code § 170(h).Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Questionable-Conservation-Easement-Donations/269/

Preparing for Future Litigation of Conservation Easements
By: Elizabeth Wroblicka
Conservation easements (“CE”) present a unique challenge to those who seek to uphold them in court. Given the nature of perpetuity, it is inevitable that the inPiduals involved in preparing and negotiating a CE will be deceased when it comes time to enforce its provisions at a trial many years from now.& ...Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Preparing-for-Future-Litigation-of-Conservation-Easements-/203/

Baseline Authentication and Admissibility
By: Ann Taylor Schwing
For every easement, the land trust has a baseline documentation report (that includes a baseline map) prepared prior to closing and signed by the landowner at closing.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Baseline-Authentication-and-Admissibility/1041/

Amending and Terminating Perpetual Conservation Easements
By: Nancy McLaughlin
Over the past several decades, landowners have donated perpetual conservation easements encumbering millions of acres to government entities and to charitable conservation organizations known as land trusts.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Amending-and-Terminating-Perpetual-Conservation-Easements/275/

Rethinking The Perpetual Nature Of Conservation Easements
By: Nancy McLaughlin
As the use of perpetual conservation easements as a land protection tool has grown, so have concerns regarding whether, when, and how such easements may be modified or terminated to respond to changed conditions.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Rethinking-The-Perpetual-Nature-Of-Conservation-Easements/270/

When Perpetual is Not Forever - The Challenge of Changing Conditions, Amendment, and Termination of Perpetual Conservation Easements
By: Jessica Jay
As the use of perpetual conservation easements to protect private property for the public’s benefit grows in popularity, so grow the challenges associated with these perpetually binding promises.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/When-Perpetual-is-Not-Forever--The-Challenge-of-Changing-Conditions-Amendment-and-Termination-of-Perpetual-Conservation-Easements/531/

Perpetuity is Forever, Almost Always - Why it is Wrong to Promote Amendment and Termination of Perpetual Conservation Easements
By: Ann Taylor Schwing
This article is a response to Jessica Jay's, When Perpetual Is Not Forever: The Challenge of Changing Conditions, Amendment and Termination of Conservation Easements, 36 Harv.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Perpetuity-is-Forever-Almost-Always--Why-it-is-Wrong-to-Promote-Amendment-and-Termination-of-Perpetual-Conservation-Easements/571/

Exploring Net Benefit Maximization - Conservation Easements and the Public-Private Interface
By: Julie Ann Gustanski; John B. Wright
Gustanski and Wright talk about conservation easements and the public-private interface. The ease of application across varied lands coupled with the financial and tax-associated benefits of conservation easements have driven the popularity of their use in conserving private lands across the US.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Exploring-Net-Benefit-Maximization--Conservation-Easements-and-the-PublicPrivate-Interface/905/

Internal Revenue Code Section 170(H) - National Perpetuity Standards For Federally Subsidized Conservation Easements
By: Nancy McLaughlin
This Article is the first of two companion articles that (i) analyze the requirements in Internal Revenue Code section 170(h) that a deductible conservation easement be “granted in perpetuity” and its conservation purpose be “protected in perpetuity” and (ii) compare those requirements to state law provisions addressing the transfer, modification, or termination of conservation easements.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Internal-Revenue-Code-Section-170H--National-Perpetuity-Standards-For-Federally-Subsidized-Conservation-Easements/282/

Internal Revenue Code Section 170(h) - National Perpetuity Standards for Federally Subsidized Conservation Easements – Part 2 - Comparison to State Law
By: Nancy McLaughlin
This article is the second of two companion articles. The first article analyzed the requirements in Internal Revenue Code section 170(h) that a deductible conservation easement be “granted in perpetuity” and its conservation purpose be “protected in perpetuity.& ...Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Internal-Revenue-Code-Section-170h--National-Perpetuity-Standards-for-Federally-Subsidized-Conservation-Easements--Part-2--Comparison-to-State-Law/283/

Evolution of the After-Easement Value
By: Jack K. Mann
With no sales of land encumbered with a conservation easement, valuation was based on the identification of rights that would be taken away through placement of the easement and the quantification of the value of each of these rights. Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Evolution-of-the-AfterEasement-Value/187/

Conservation Easement Paragraph Databank
By: Ann Taylor Schwing
The CE Paragraph Databank is a work in progress assembled by the Stanford Conservation and Climate Change Drafting Committee and a number of CE professionals assisting in the work. Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Conservation-Easement-Paragraph-Databank/520/

You’re Not Too Late - The Post-Mortem Donation of Conservation Easements
By: Robert Levin
The following is an adapted version of an article that appeared in Tax Notes Today in October 30, 2000. Robert H. Levin is a practicing Maine attorney who specializes in land conservation. Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Youre-Not-Too-Late--The-PostMortem-Donation-of-Conservation-Easements/562/

Conservation Easements - Perpetuity and Beyond
By: Nancy McLaughlin
Perpetual conservation easements are intended to protect the particular land they encumber for the conservation purposes specified in the deed of conveyance “in perpetuity”—or at least until circumstances have changed so profoundly that continued protection of the land for those purposes is no longer feasible.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Conservation-Easements--Perpetuity-and-Beyond/176/

A Guide to Preservation and Conservation Easements
By: Stefan Nagel
Stefan Nagel discusses the facts about preservation easements and conservation easements in this part 1 of the guide.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/A-Guide-to-Preservation-and-Conservation-Easements/273/

A Guide to Preservation and Conservation Easements part 2
By: Stefan Nagel
In this article by Stefan Nagel, the federal and state income tax benefits of donating a preservation easement are discussed.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/A-Guide-to-Preservation-and-Conservation-Easements-part-2/272/

A Guide To The Tax Aspects of Conservation Easement Contributions
By: C. Timothy Lindstrom
There are five types of tax benefits available to easement donors and their families, all of which can be enjoyed in combination. Use this guide from Timothy Lindstrom, an attorney who specializes in the federal tax law governing conservation easements and land trusts.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/A-Guide-To-The-Tax-Aspects-of-Conservation-Easement-Contributions/277/

Federal Estate and Gift Tax Consequences of Donated Term Conservation Easements
By: Lawrence R. Kueter and William M. Silberstein
Term conservation easements are conservation easements that are not perpetual, but, rather, restrict the property for a term of years. After the term has expired, the conservation easement restrictions terminate and no longer affect the land. Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Federal-Estate-and-Gift-Tax-Consequences-of-Donated-Term-Conservation-Easements/279/

Amending Perpetual Conservation Easements - A Case Study Of The Myrtle Grove Controversy
By: Nancy McLaughlin
Over the past quarter century there has been an explosive growth in the use of conservation easements as a land protection tool. A conservation easement is a deed transferred by the owner of the land encumbered by the easement to the holder of the easement (generally a government agency or a charitable conservation organization referred to as a “land trust”) that restricts the development and use of the land to achieve certain conservation goals, such as the preservation of open space, wildlife habitat, agricultural land, or an historic site.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Amending-Perpetual-Conservation-Easements--A-Case-Study-Of-The-Myrtle-Grove-Controversy/214/

In Defense of Conservation Easements - A Response to the End of Perpetuity
By: Nancy McLaughlin and W. William Weeks
Charitable gifts made to government entities and charitable organizations can be either restricted or unrestricted. An unrestricted charitable gift is a contribution of money or property that the donor makes without attaching any conditions on its use by the recipient entity or organization.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/In-Defense-of-Conservation-Easements--A-Response-to-the-End-of-Perpetuity/216/

Trends in Working Forest Conservation Easements
By: Brenda Lind
The increasing use of conservation easements to protect private, productive forestland and recent large-scale projects protecting tens or hundreds of thousands of acres are bringing out challenges and questions related to working forest conservation easements (WFCEs).Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Trends-in-Working-Forest-Conservation-Easements/280/

Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement (PACE) Program Funding
By: American Farmland Trust
PACE programs exist across the country, with the purpose of compensating private landowners for placing development restrictions on their property.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Purchase-of-Agricultural-Conservation-Easement-PACE-Program-Funding/1335/

The Conservation Easement Tax Expenditure - In Search of Conservation Value
By: Roger Colinvaux
Federal tax law has long provided a tax benefit for charitable contributions of easements for conservation purposes. A fundamental problem with this conservation easement tax expenditure is that the measure for the tax benefit – lost economic development value – is erroneous.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/The-Conservation-Easement-Tax-Expenditure--In-Search-of-Conservation-Value/537/

Conservation Easements, and The Charitable Trust Doctrine - Setting the Record Straight
By: Nancy McLaughlin and W. William Weeks
This is the fourth in an exchange of articles published by the Wyoming Law Review discussing the application of charitable trust principles to conservation easements conveyed as charitable gifts.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Conservation-Easements-and-The-Charitable-Trust-Doctrine--Setting-the-Record-Straight/281/

Conservation Easements and the Doctrine of Merger
By: Nancy McLaughlin
Conservation easements raise a number of interesting legal issues, not the least of which is whether a conservation easement is automatically extinguished pursuant to the real property law doctrine of merger if its government or nonprofit holder acquires title to the encumbered land.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Conservation-Easements-and-the-Doctrine-of-Merger/284/

Expert Stephen Small Addresses CEs at TALT Seminar
By: Colleen Schreiber
Some choose to use conservation easements; others choose not to, but either way, a wise choice requires education on what can be a complicated subject.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Expert-Stephen-Small-Addresses-CEs-at-TALT-Seminar/287/

Incentives for Conservation Easements - The Charitable Deduction or a Better Way
By: Daniel Halperin
The Internal Revenue Code allows a charitable income-tax deduction for a “qualified conservation contribution,”1 known, more colloquially, as a conservation easement.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Incentives-for-Conservation-Easements--The-Charitable-Deduction-or-a-Better-Way/288/

Rolling Easements
By: James G. Titus
This document presents the vision that future development of some low-lying coastal lands is based on the premise that eventually the land must give way to the rising sea.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Rolling-Easements/1558/

The Butterfly Effect - Conservation Easements, Climate Change, and Invasive Species
By: James L. Olmsted
This Article explains that one of the consequences of climate change will be migrations of species from their native habitats to newer habitats, typically to the north, with climates similar to those in which such species evolved.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/The-Butterfly-Effect--Conservation-Easements-Climate-Change-and-Invasive-Species/898/

A Guide to Donating Conservation Easements and Substantiating Their Value - Kiva Dunes
By: Ronald A. Levitt; David M. Wooldridge; Gregory P. Rhodes; Cheryl Howell Oswalt
One of the areas challenged by the IRS concerning the donation of a conservation easement is whether the the donation was valued correctly. The case Kiva Dunes establishes what is required for valuation, specifically stressing the importance of a qualified appraiser, and settles the question that a golf course can be a valid conservation purpose.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/A-Guide-to-Donating-Conservation-Easements-and-Substantiating-Their-Value--Kiva-Dunes/765/

The Invisible Forest - Conservation Easement Databases and the End of the Clandestine Conservation of Natural Lands
By: James L. Olmsted
Olmsted talks about invisible forest refers to forest lands -- and, for that matter, any other land types -- protected by a perpetual conservation easement, the existence and location of which are concealed from the public, whether deliberately or because of the opaque nature of the easement process.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/The-Invisible-Forest--Conservation-Easement-Databases-and-the-End-of-the-Clandestine-Conservation-of-Natural-Lands/904/

Land Trust Defense and Enforcement of Conserved Areas
By: Adena R. Rissman, Van Butsic
Achieving conservation goals in protected areas hinges on continual monitoring, enforcement, and legal defense. In an era of devolved governance, nonpro?t land trusts have become increasingly important.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Land-Trust-Defense-and-Enforcement-of-Conserved-Areas/1328/

Connecticut Headwaters Conservation Easement and Northern Pass Memo
By: Thomas N. Masland Esq; Paul H. MacDonald Esq
Attorneys at Ransmeier & Spellman PC analyzed the terms of the CT Headwaters conservation easement and found that its terms would not allow for Northern Pass to construct transmission lines across conserved property.Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Connecticut-Headwaters-Conservation-Easement-and-Northern-Pass-Memo/1171/

Farm and Forest Land Preservation With Conservation Easements
By: Christopher D. Clark, Larry Tankersley, George F. Smith, and Daniel Starnes
This publication is intended to provide basic information on conservation easements for landowners, community leaders, students and other interested individuals. Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/Farm-and-Forest-Land-Preservation-With-Conservation-Easements/1737/

The Law of Agricultural Land Preservation in the United States
By: Thomas Daniels and John Keene
Thomas Daniels and John Keene's new book breaks down the legal principles, federal and state requirements, and the legal issues that affect agricultural land preservation efforts. Read More »
https://www.landcan.org/ctc-article/Conservation-Easements/Expert-Publications/The-Law-of-Agricultural-Land-Preservation-in-the-United-States/3249/

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38 Expert Publications articles were found for Conservation Easements