We live in a very samll town in Iowa. In 1899 a family from New York donated land to the town for a school, town hall, or city park in return that the town be named after them. The deed for the property states that if the land is not used for the purposes of school, town hall or park the land is to be reverted back to the family heirs. The property is next door to ours and the town hall was torn down 10+ years ago so the property is sitting vacant. We approched the city about purchasing the land and were told they could not sell the property as they did not own it. We then went to our county court house and according to their records the city owns it. We have looked to find the family heirs dating back to New York 1899 and have found nothing. Now, what can we do?

I think the town ought to look at this - I'm no lawyer, but I think the provision as desribed is probably in violation of the "rule against perpetuities." Basically when you make a bequest like this you can not put limitations on the property that necver expire, and in particluar they must expire within a timeframe that is no longer than "lives in being plus 21 years." In this case I would think the limitation on this property ran out when the last of the couple's offspring died, which was probably many years ago. The town lawyer ought to take a look at this - clearly the status of the property can't just stay in limbo forever.

Hi, KA. I'm from Iowa - Spirit Lake, originally. Has it snowed there yet?

Anyway... who is shown as the owner of the property in the tax records, county recorder, etc? I don't know how small of a town you're talking here, but I'd just make an offer. That will get the ball rolling. If there's money involved I would think someone would start figuring something out.

I live in Callender, a very small town, population about 425 people. We went to the court house and it lists the city as the woner but according to the city attorney they can't sell it because the deed states that if it is not being used as a school, town hall, park, it has to go back to the Callender family. The Callender family was alive and well in 1899 in New York but where the heck are they now you know!? SO FRUSTRATED!

Nope no snow, 75 and sunny today, but we have had our first hard freeze last week, no snow yet.

You might try calling a title company and get their advice. If there's not one there, surely there's one in Fort Dodge (is that the same county?) that you could talk to.

Otherwise if the city atty won't move on it, do you have a City Council? Mayor? I'd just keep talking to people until you find someone willing to "do" something about it. Did you tell the atty that you want to BUY it? How much $$ are we talking here?

It might not be worth spending much $$ on it... but surely there are genealogy experts who you could hire to perform the necessary search to see if there are any heirs.