Share and Follow
AN 84-year-old woman has been fighting a decades-long battle to keep the land she owns that’s now seemingly worth $20 million, and after 60 years, she may be forced from the property.
In the Moore’s Mill neighborhood on the outskirts of Auburn, Alabama, homeowner Corine Woodson could be evicted from the 40 acres bought by her family in the early 1900s.
Woodson resides in a home placed on the land that she has since paid off, but because the ownership for the acreage is split by percentage throughout the family, it could be sold, per local ABC affiliate WTVM.
The other members who have a stake in the property are known as “tenants in common,” and they do not own any specific portion of the land.
The law in the state is that every owner has to sell if one owner wants to or files a partition in court, meaning investors are not far away from getting the entire 40 acres.
Interest in selling peaked after it was estimated at around $20 million.
It’s currently undergoing a court-ordered appraisal, and the $20million projection comes as two-acre lots next to the property have sold for $500,000 apiece.
Despite the potential profit, Woodson told the outlet that she doesn’t understand why other family members would want to sell after its longstanding legacy.
“I would like to ask them why,” she said.
“You know, why, but I don’t. I can’t figure it out. Thinking about it, wondering about it. It’s not easy. I can tell you that.”
Woodson lived on the land after marrying her late husband Willie, whose home and property had been passed down through generations since it was purchased.
Some of the Woodson family in previous years sold their interests to investors Cleveland Brothers Incorporated.
Read Related Also: Putin blitzes Kyiv with ‘biggest EVER drone strike’ injuring five as Russia fires 75 kamikaze drones in one night
The company currently has at least 49 percent ownership of the property and will have the opportunity to purchase all of the remaining land shares after the appraisal concludes.
The court provided a deadline when the partition began for anyone to come forward who wished to purchase the entire property after it was appraised, and Cleveland Brothers did just that and filed a motion.
Woodson didn’t think she had to file a motion to purchase it because she already owned the home on the property along with her share.
Although, she did have to, and the court allegedly told her it was too late by the time she filed.
The couple’s daughter, Melissa, reiterated it was predetermined that the land could not be equally divided, meaning that Cleveland Brothers Inc. is on the cusp of taking over all of it legally, given the way the home was deeded and that her mother didn’t file a motion soon enough.
“It was determined already that the land cannot be equally divided,” Melissa said, per The New York Post.
“That is how [the company] has the opportunity to buy all of it, and since they’re saying that my dad didn’t say that he wanted to buy all of it, they’re not allowing my mom the opportunity to do so.”
Woodson won’t come out of the purchase empty-handed by any means, given the cash paid out for the home and her percentage of the land, but she doesn’t want to leave the residence that belonged to her and her late husband.
“I have even said, ‘Nobody can just put you off of your property,’ and my family members have said, ‘No they’re not gonna do that,'” she told WTVM.
“We were, I guess, naïve or not up to par on the law based on that timeframe, but it’s happening right before our eyes.”
Woodson added: “The sad thing is there is very little we can do about it.”
It’s almost certain that Woodson will be forced to find a new home after the appraisal is finalized and the purchase is made.
Even so, Bill Cleveland of Cleveland Brothers Inc. told the outlet that the 84-year-old would be permitted to live at the home for a year after the sale of the lucrative property is concluded.