Mother seeks help regarding disagreement with son over ownership of farm

Of course, there’s a back story. I previously foreclosed on my son when he and his wife borrowed money from me to build the farm. When he divorced, I got the farm and paid him off with cash as he needed it. But I didn’t have all the money I needed to pay him off. So, I took out a loan.

Now with the crash he believes is coming, he wants money to invest and be independent. It is very stressful for both of us to be tied together financially. He wants $500,000 or for me to sign over the property to him.

He now has a new partner, and I believe she’ll get everything when he dies.

My concern is how to protect his kids from losing their inheritance. My son does things with a handshake. There’s nothing written down. He runs the farm, and I’m concerned about liability issues he may face. He might get sued for something that would result in the loss of the farm.

What should I do? The attorney I talked to doesn’t like the idea of giving him the farm, but he doesn’t know anything about the tax implications. There are so many income tax issues relating to the ownership and business of the farm, and then there are the real estate tax issues if the farm stops being our homestead. I have a low income and basically live on Social Security.