Save our family farm/legal battle

*Please consider donating $5.00 (lowest amount gofundme will accept), and share our link asking your friends and family to also donate $5.00. It doesn't seem like a lot, and to most it isn't but if enough people are reached and donate a small amount it will add up to what we need without causing hardship for the donor. THANKS!!!*

I don't know where to begin other than to say that it is really hard to ask for help from friends and strangers but with time running out I don't have any other possible solution. November 17, 2011 I lost my Great-Grandpa, he passed away suddenly at 90 years old. Seems weird to say suddenly for a man of his age but he was in good health and was working splitting wood earlier that day. It was and still is hard for my family. I grew up on the family farm (never had farm animals really, Grandpa grew sod) either living next door to my Grandparents or with my Grandpa after Grandma died when I was a teenager. When I moved out when I had kids of my own it was just right next door. In 2001 we moved back in with Grandpa, to "help" him but in all reality, he didn't need much help just the company.

He left the farm to me in his will which didn't help with the pain of losing him but not living in the only home me and my children have known would have made an unbearable situation so much harder. In I think October of 2012 I got the first of many letters from a lawyer, I wasn't concerned at first because it seemed ridiculous what they were saying. The letter said he had been a part of a "fraudulent transfer". It seemed ridiculous because anyone that knew "Smitty" knew fraud was not something he would be a part of. He was the most honest, hardworking, caring, and giving man you could ever meet. He would give someone his last dollar without a second thought, which often caused him to be taken advantage of but he didn't see it that way, if he thought he could do something to help someone else he'd do it. That's the kind of man he was.

The letter said they wanted to collect $137,000 for a fraudulent real estate transaction. In May of 2011 he sold some land he had a few miles from our home. There were 4 parcels of land (two 3 acre parcels, a 40 acre and an 18 acre parcel), he sold them all together to an Amish family for $137,000. A large portion of the money from the sale went to pay off the bank loan on the family home/farm (which only had a mortgage because he allowed another family member to use it as collateral and co-signed the loan:the family member didn't make the payments). He worried a lot about getting that loan paid off so my girls and I wouldn't have to worry about losing the farm when he was gone.

The reason the lawyers sent the letter is because the 18 acre parcel of land was in my sisters' name up until the day it was sold. Grandpa had put it in her name about 10 years ago. They did a quit claim deed and transferred the property for no money. He did this because she was using it as collateral for a loan to go to college, a car, and living expenses etc. while going to school. The arrangement was once she paid off the loan she would transfer it back to Grandpa. So when he was ready to sell it they did another quit claim deed and transferred it back to Grandpa.

In July of 2012 my sister and her husband filed for bankruptcy. They disclosed everything, including the transfer of that property; neither their lawyer nor anyone else mentioned the problem that would be coming. A few months later is when the first letter came saying Grandpa owed them $137,000.00 because he received the property back from my sister for no money. I wasn't worried because it really was never hers, he transferred it to her for nothing, she transferred it back for nothing, and the amount they said he owed was for all the property not just the 18 acres that was titled to my sister and my Grandpa passed away well before my sisters bankruptcy, he knew nothing about it so how could it be fraud? He didn't know she was going to file and at the time of his death she wasn't even considering filing.

I sent replies to the lawyers for the trustees, then to the courts when I got letters saying I needed to respond. Still thinking this was going to be cleared up. I went to court when I was supposed to. I was definitely out of my league without having a lawyer of my own (didn't think I would need one). I was advised by the judge to hire a lawyer, which I did. The lawyer was able to have the price being demanded dropped to the value of the 18 acres not the entire 137,000.

My only option now is to come up with what they are asking for or they can take my Grandpa's only asset to satisfy the debt which is our family home. I did not transfer it into my name when he passed away, it is still titled to his trust and I cannot transfer it until this debt is settled. So I cannot get a loan on the property to pay them, I probably would not qualify anyway because my credit is not great and have only just recently (January 2^nd) finally found a full time job (was only able to find part time work for a few years), so not a very long work history at my current place. I had also considered portioning off a piece of the property and selling that so I wouldn't lose the house but since it is not in my name I cannot sell any of it.

I have nothing to sell or borrow against to come up with this amount of money. This is why as one last attempt I am asking please help if you can. Every little bit will help, even if all you can do is share our story with others who may be able to donate. I still can't imagine what it will be like to lose the only place my daughters and I have called home and the place my Grandpa worked so hard for and left to me. I don't even know how to describe the emotions and stress this has caused over the last year+. I know there are a lot of people out there that need help, many of them also losing their homes. There are a lot of other people you could donate to that need help just as much as my family. The only thing I can promise is if you are able to help us you can be sure it won't end with us. I will pay it forward every pay day by finding another family that needs help and donating to them. I cannot save my family home with the amount I will be able to donate each week but I will help others at least until my debt is repaid. It will take me a long time to donate $45,000 to others but I will do it and if something happens to me before I reach that goal my daughters will continue where I leave off.

If you have any questions please feel free to send me a message.

Thank you for taking time to read this, sharing our story and donating if you can.

Sincerely,
Grace Smith