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Who Has Standing?
Justin Hollinger, Esq., is a coauthor of this guide.
Guide to the Conservation and Preservation Easements Act
Co-authored the 2024 edition of this guide.
Conservation Easements in Court: A Review of Easement Violation and Enforcement Litigation in Pennsylvania
A review of Pennsylvania judicial decisions reveals that conservation easement holders and the conservation values they uphold prevail when a dispute leads to litigation. Courts respect the text of...
Beneficiaries and Backup Holders: Providing Third Parties With Rights but Not Responsibilities Regarding Conservation Easements
A grant of conservation easement may provide one or more rights to a party other than the landowner and holder of the easement, in accordance with the needs and wishes of those involved with the ea...
Co-Holding Conservation Easements: Considerations for Good Management and Conservation Outcomes
A conservation easement may be granted to multiple entities. These holders of the easement are then each responsible for upholding the easement’s conservation objectives. The respective roles of th...
Who Has Standing? Conservation Easements in Pennsylvania Courts
Who can assert claims and be heard in Pennsylvania’s courts if a dispute heats up over the management of a conservation easement? WeConservePA guide. 6 pages.
Making Restricted Gifts: Impacts of Restrictions on Charitable Tax Deductions
Donors of land, cash, or other property may desire to place restrictions on a gift to ensure it is used only for specific purposes. To what extent might such restrictions limit or disallow a charit...
Model Declaration of Public Trust with Commentary
This set of model documents and accompanying commentary helps local governments formally dedicate lands to public purposes, reserve portions for other purposes, and clarify what are and aren’t appr...
Ensuring the Permanence of Parks and Other Public Open Space: Safeguards for Lands Entrusted to Local Government
How can local governments establish clear and appropriate protections for the parks and other public open spaces in their purview? How can citizens defend public lands from inappropriate use or liq...
Legal Considerations in Amending Grants of Conservation Easement
This guide informs easement holders, particularly private land trusts, of legal matters to consider under Pennsylvania law and the Internal Revenue Code when making decisions regarding the amendmen...
Statutory Protection from Liability Related to Public Access: Pennsylvania Law Supports Opening Land to the Public
Public access to land for recreational use raises concern about the possibility of visitor injuries and the potential for the owners or managers of the land to then be held liable. Several Pennsylv...
Guidelines for Conservation Easement Amendments, Waivers, and Letters of Interpretation
Conservation easements are intended to last—to ensure protection of important resources, no matter people’s whims—through the decades and centuries. However, the world changes and so do understandi...
Model Stewardship Funding Covenant with Commentary
<p>The Model Stewardship Funding Covenant is a tool for making funding arrangements for conservation easement stewardship that are both affordable to landowners and adequate to cover the ...
Model Policy for Conservation Easement Amendment
Every easement-holding land trust should have a policy to help guide responsible consideration of potential amendments to grants of conservation easement. WeConservePA produced this one-page Model ...
Model Declaration of Public Trust for Conservation Easements (with Commentary)
The Model Declaration of Public Trust for Conservation Easements is a tool for local governments to use to help ensure that the conservation easements they acquire are long-lasting and durable no m...
Parks in Perpetuity: The Protections Provided to Parks and Other Public Open Spaces Under Pennsylvania Law
Parks and other public open spaces deliver tremendous benefits to the public and provide a crucial foundation for building, maintaining, and renewing communities. People rely on the permanence of t...
Model Compliance Statement with Commentary
A prospective buyer of eased land may want the owner of the land to provide them a guarantee that the easement holder won’t pursue claims against them for violations that predate their interest. A ...
Estoppel Certificates, Compliance Statements, and Conservation Easements
A prospective buyer of eased land may want the owner of the land to provide them a guarantee that the easement holder won’t pursue claims against them for violations that predate their interest. A ...
Placing Transfer Fees in Grants of Conservation Easement
Provisions requiring payments by owners of eased land to the easement holder upon each transfer of the land (or other triggering event) may be placed in the document that grants a conservation ease...
Guide to the Conservation and Preservation Easements Act: Pennsylvania Act 29 of 2001
Conservation organizations can avoid many potential difficulties in conservation easement stewardship by ensuring that their conservation easement documents are drafted to conform with the Conserva...
Reducing Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax
In Pennsylvania, death triggers a state inheritance tax on the distribution of the deceased person’s assets (the “estate”) to the beneficiaries of the estate. Conservation restrictions in support o...
Reducing Liability Associated with Public Access
Public access to land for hiking, bird watching, hunting, and other recreational activities raises the possibility of a visitor getting injured and for the owners or managers of the land to then be...
Indemnity Agreements and Liability Insurance: Protection From Claims Brought by Third Parties
An individual or organization’s risk of being held liable for personal injury or property damage may be shifted to another party who agrees to accept the risk and who holds liability insurance or s...
Installment Agreement
The seller of real estate may finance the buyer’s purchase of a property. An installment agreement requires the buyer to pay the seller the purchase price in installments over time. Both the buyer ...
Gift of a Future Interest in Real Estate: Reserved Life Estates Keep Owners in Control During Their Lifetimes
Landowners can convey a future interest in real property to a conservation organization or government but continue to live on or otherwise enjoy using the property during their lifetimes. If the pr...
Release of Liability Form: A Tool to Reduce the Risk of Claims for Personal Injury or Property Loss
A properly designed release of liability form signed by a volunteer or participant in an activity can reduce the risk of claims for personal injury or property loss against the organizing or hostin...
Seller Take Back Financing
When a seller wants to close a sale of real estate but the buyer is not yet in a position to fully fund the purchase, the parties can close the sale with the seller taking from the buyer a purchase...
Model Release of Liability Form
<p>The risk of being held responsible for injuries or property damage associated with organizing volunteer, educational, recreational, and other events and activities (or opening up property for th...
Closing: Finalizing the Real Estate Transaction
<p>At closing, the transfer of the real estate interest, whether land, easement, or other interest, is completed. This guide helps users organize and expedite the closing. WeConservePA guide. 8 pag...
Stewardship Funding Arrangements: Supporting Easement Holders in Carrying out Their Conservation Duties
<p>A landowner may agree to an arrangement that requires the owner <i>or successive owners</i> of an eased property to make payments to the conservation easement holder to support stewardship of th...
Legal Considerations for Stewardship Funding Arrangements: Binding Present and Future Landowners to Present Promises
<p>A landowner may agree to funding arrangements that require the landowner or successor owners of an eased property to make one or more payments to the easement holder to support stewardship of th...
Acting on Owner Requests for Review, Waiver, and Interpretation Regarding Conservation Easements
What considerations guide a conservation easement holder’s processing of a landowner’s request for the holder to: approve an action subject to the holder’s review; waive the holde...
Model Policy for Acting on Owner Requests for Review, Waiver, and Interpretation
<p>This model policy guides a conservation easement holder’s processing of a landowner’s request for the holder to: (1) approve an action subject to the holder’s review; (2) ...
Model Conservation Easement Donation Agreement with Commentary
<p>The Model Conservation Easement Donation Agreement helps land trusts avoid getting stuck with unreimbursed major expenses if a would-be easement donor walks away from a project. It outlines the ...
Model Baseline Documentation Acknowledgment with Commentary
<p>The purpose of the Model Baseline Documentation Acknowledgment is to ensure that baseline documentation materials are properly identified and certified for optimal long-term legal effect, regard...