Farm disputes have a feature that makes them uniquely badly suited to courtrooms: the asset cannot be divided without being ruined. A judgment can order money paid or land sold — but a working holding split three ways stops working, and the home place sold to fund an equalisation is a resolution nobody wanted, including the person who won.
The Two Files
Every succession dispute has a legal file and a human one. The legal file: title and folios, what was transferred and when, wills and their terms, partnership arrangements, entitlements and schemes, provision for parents. The human file: the son or daughter who stayed and worked for board and pocket money while the others went to college; the promise made in a kitchen in 1994 that everyone remembers differently; the in-law nobody trusts; the parent who avoided the conversation for thirty years because raising it felt like discussing their own death. Courts adjudicate the first file and are structurally incapable of touching the second — yet the second is what actually generates the dispute, and it is what survives any judgment, arriving intact at the next funeral. Mediation can hold both files in one room, which is the entire argument for it here.
What Gets Built — and the Timing Nobody Acts On
Succession mediations produce structures rather than verdicts: a phased transfer with the successor taking over in stages; provision for a parent — a right of residence, maintenance, security over part of the land; equalisation paid over time rather than a lump sum that would force a sale, or a site instead of cash; a proper role and remuneration for someone who has worked for years on an understanding; a buy-out with a deferred, secured element; an agreed valuation mechanism; and a written plan for what happens next so the argument does not recur in a decade. And the timing point, which almost nobody acts on: the best moment is while the parents are alive and well. Most of these disputes reach a solicitor after a death — positions fixed, evidence reduced to contested memory, the one person who could have explained their intentions gone, and the estate funding the fight. A facilitated conversation beforehand lets intentions be stated rather than reconstructed, and produces documents (wills, transfers, rights of residence, agreements with the non-successor children) that leave nothing to litigate. Two rules apply throughout: the implementing machinery is drafted alongside so the agreement is real, with the firm’s farm practice; and the tax questions go to your accountant and Revenue’s guidance before anything is signed, because farm transfer reliefs and their conditions can change the value of an arrangement entirely. The full page is here.
If a parent is reading this: the kindest thing available is to say what you intend, out loud, once, with everyone present and someone neutral holding the room — and then document it. Silence feels like keeping the peace. It is usually just deferring the war to people who will have to fight it without you.
A conversation nobody is having? 01 5827148 — confidential from the first call.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & Mediator
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), holder of the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation and a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Mediations are conducted at The Ormond Building on Ormond Quay, at the firm’s Kilkenny office, at neutral venues, at the parties’ own premises — or fully online. Fees are agreed in writing with all parties before any mediation begins. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
General information, not legal advice. The content of this website is general information about mediation and Irish law. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every dispute turns on its own facts, and advice on yours requires a consultation.
The mediator is not your legal adviser. Where Mary Molloy Solicitors is appointed as mediator, the mediator is neutral: the mediator acts for no party, advises no party, and does not decide the dispute. All parties are encouraged to take independent legal advice, and in particular to take advice before signing any mediation settlement. The firm does not act as mediator in any dispute in which it acts, or has acted, for a party — conflicts are checked before any appointment is accepted. Where the firm is instructed as solicitor for one party in a mediation, it acts for that party alone and does not act as mediator in that dispute.
Fees. Fees for mediation are agreed in writing with all parties before the mediation begins, and fees for legal services are agreed in writing with the client at the outset. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.
Tax. Nothing on this website is tax advice. Where a dispute or its resolution has tax consequences — succession, business transfers, property, compensation payments — those questions belong with your accountant or tax adviser and with Revenue’s own guidance, and are best addressed before any settlement is signed.