Devising Wind Interests

Gerry W. Beyer (Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law) and Christianson Hartman (Executive Comment Editor, Estate Planning and Community Property Law Journal, Texas Tech University School of Law) have recently posted on SSRN their article entitled What Texas Estate Planners Need to Know About Transferring a Wind Interest.

Here is the abstract of their article:

Wind development is at the forefront of our nation’s green energy trend. The importance of wind energy raises prospective legal issues, in particular to estate planners, regarding how those rights should be treated in their clients’ wills. Estate planners must be especially careful in determining their clients’ goals and assist them in achieving those goals. A testator who merely partitions his or her land into parcels of equal sizes in an attempt to make an equitable division to the beneficiaries might not achieve an equal distribution of wealth to each beneficiary because it is very likely that the shares will not have equal value. The shares of property with turbines, or the most turbines, will be more valuable than those without, or those with less. Additionally, the parcels with turbines would have less, if not little, surface area to enjoy quietly.

This article addresses some of the issues related to testamentary transfers of wind rights to increase the likelihood that your client’s will accurately reflects his or her testamentary intent.