I have a small sawmill. I cut wood to use in my furniture business. I have about 2000 feet of walnut, cherry,
maple and oak. Most is 6 to 8 quarter. It is all cut either slabs or 1 edge live. most is between 1-18 inches wide. Most 8-10 foot length. 30% is decent grade . The rest is full of various imperfections I like to use in tables. Its all air drying. Bottom line my wife brought in some dude who claims its worth $40,000.
I wish he would buy it!!!!!. Could someone help me with where to find estimates. I did a lot of work with a trailer and pick up, winch and manual mill. I have not been paid for my time and energy for the lumber. This is considered marital property. I know I have seen wholesale lumber prices listed somewhere. Has anyone else had this problem and what have you done. Its a nasty go for the throat lawyer she has. Please any help I don't have a clue how to deal with the value.
Thanks
bhub I may have some pictures
Can't help other than to say that if they think it is worth $40,000 then you should be more than willing to let them have that as part of the marital property while you take other things.
Good Luck.
Get yourself a good lawyer and some quotes from professional lumber buyers, in that order.
Yep, just load it all on a trailer in two equal stacks. Take it to the lawyer's office and let them choose between the stack, then dump their stack on his steps. That ought to take care of that. ;D
If you don't want to get that frisky, and I really recommend that you don't, divide it and let them send their "expert" to make the choice, then charge them storage until it is removed.
Sorry about the divorce. Been there, done that, and it ain't never fun. :-\
sounds like its gonna be a tough row to hoe. i am not certain about the lumber prices but i would think a good lawyer could help you out alot. good lawyer.............now that has to be an oxy-moron.
and whatever you say, don't try and tell us you don't have the money for a good lawyer.........after all you have 40k worth of lumber laying around. ::)
I was thinking pretty much on the same line as DANG, give her half of the lumber and let her sell it.
Like or not, you first need a GOOD lawyer and there are some out there. Second is to let your lawyer handle this.
And finally recognize that you will not get everything you want.
Pay a certified grader to come in and grade it. You then can turn around and use the latest Hardwood Market Report or what ever publication applies to your market area. If they push the issue, you have a few options. Buy her half of the lumber for what wholesale is, sell all of the lumber and split what you get (remind her that it will probably be a lot less that what they think it is (this is where it helps to have buddies ;) ). Put it on her "side" of the paper and use their estimate, put $40,000 worth of marital property on your side ;D. Either way you are going to be out something, how much and how you play it has a lot to do with you. Good luck, like DanG, been there done that, not much fun hope all turns out as positive for you as it can.
I would sure like to know what the "dude's" credentials are. He's estimating $20/bf and I don't know of any walnut or cherry that sells for that price. My guess is that he is estimating the value of your business or hobby, not just the lumber.
Flitch sawn lumber is kind of hard to grade. It doesn't come up to NHLA specs. I would challenge it with an independent estimate of the value of the lumber and the equipment. An equipment salesman would be one source for any equipment. Any lumberman or sawmill that deals in rough cut lumber would be a source for a lumber estimate.
I've seen a couple of sawmills go up for auction because of a divorce. In most cases, they weren't advertised much so that the proceeds would be quite small.
20 dollars a BF! and here I thought tropical hardwoods were expensive!
I saw a good bit of flitches. Where are you?
Ironwood
Tell her if she thinks it's worth $40,000, then she can take it all and pay you half in cash.....
Quote from: Osric on July 03, 2008, 01:24:24 PM
Can't help other than to say that if they think it is worth $40,000 then you should be more than willing to let them have that as part of the marital property while you take other things.Good Luck.
Yea...... What he said. ! Let her take it all and try and sell it.
All that stuff is just "Things". Sometimes it's better to just back out and let them have it, if Freedom is the trade. "Things" can be reacquired. "Strings" make puppets.
In the "been there done that" department, it was my experience that what's hers is hers and what's yours is half hers. Get a lawyer, pay both of 'em off with that high dollar lumber.
Bhub ...
Sorry to hear about the divorce. Been there myself and I know the toll it can take on your mind. If I were in your situation I belive I'd have a Certified National Hardwood Lumber Association lumber grader come in and grade the lumber. He'll have the eye for stain, pin knots, etc that actually de-value the lumber. Sure it may be pretty but the commercial value of the lumber may be marginal at best. Then once you have his grade tally and scale get a copy of the Hardwood Market Report or three seperate quotes from reputable lumber brokers who are well known to help you establish a range of market value. Personally I'd have the grader stamp or mark his grade on the wood. Be forwarned, there's a lot of handling in a short period of time that goes with moving lumber out from under a good grader. They can really fly. May need to have a couple of your friends over to help.
Hope it works out for you.
LOGDOG
Maybe that dude got his figures from home depot. :D I went there to get some 1/4 round to finish a project......67cents a foot for pine! 3/4" x 6" red oak was $7.54 a foot! I made my own ;D
I faced a similar situation. Without going into details, offer the 50/50 split or to sell them your half at a substantial discount. Then they can set the value. She should be happy to buy it at 50% off ($10/bf). ;D
Mark
I know some fellows that would run it all through a chipper and then give her half ;D .
Wipe the slate clean and start again .
I think this is where one should be able to say you value it and I will tell you if it goes in my half or your half depending on the price. If too high it goes to her half and if too low I would keep it.
I know this is a tough spot to be in. I am lucky that I still have my mill. What worked best for me was to split the wood between each party leaving each responsible for the final sale price. I lost 3,000 bdft of top quality of Claro Walnut and don't even think about the rest of the wood. A good thing to do is let go of the wood and move on. You can always cut more.
Hire a good lawyer.
Also did you retrieve the logs, or where they delivered? did you purchase the logs or where they "free"
I learned a long time ago, there are no "free" logs, there's a lot of work in log moving and handling.
Did she ever pay any maintanence or upkeep on the mill? did she pay for any of the blade damage on the mill?
My point is that the boards are not 100% profit, and only the "profit" should be debated and challenged, unless all of the "costs" were shared (but they may already be shared depending on laws governing your situation).
It will cost you far more to not have a good lawyer than it will to have one.
Quote from: Dan_Shade on July 07, 2008, 11:43:31 AM
Hire a good lawyer....
It will cost you far more to not have a good lawyer than it will to have one.
Amen Brother ...I'll second that.
LOGDOG
Sorry about the situation. Adults get STUPID when they no longer see eye to eye!
Here's something to think about that shouldn't cost you much money. Take a bunch of good pictures and post it on EBAY . Sell it as one lot - buy all of it or none of it. Set your reserve at the fellow's $40K figure, but start the auction at $1. Don't tell people the reserve, or you'll not get a single bid! Make real sure you've described it just as the fellow described it, if he did describe it. Surely if he was knowledgable at appraising the lumber, he gave your wife some paperwork "certifying" it's value. If he didn't have significant paperwork to back up his claim, it's "here say", and is worth no more than the paper it's not written on. If it sells at his price, take your half and be happy. If it doesn't, you have a new "market price" that I would guess would be more close to reality than the other fellow's price.
As to who did what to earn what in the getting and sawing of this wood, I don't think the law cares. At least that's what I've seen here in NJ. Know a jerk whose wife caught him in bed with one of her friends. That was after he got fired from his 100K/yr job for sexual harrassment (yes, he did it!). This guy was a super, super sleezeball, and everyone who knows him knows it. He got half of everything, including her future pension. Didn't matter that she'd supported his ignorant A** for years. Sometimes the law don't make no sense!!
Quote from: srt on July 07, 2008, 12:46:40 PM
Sometimes the law don't make no sense!!
Yep, that's why sometimes you need to hire a lawyer.
I see we've had several replies about getting a good lawyer. While I love that idea in theory, I've never found it to work for me. Hired a lawyer when bought our first house. It was an estate sale. After our well went dry, we found out that the well went dry every summer, and the "kids" knew it, as they had lived at home as adults. The Earnest money agreement was filled with stuff about the well being good, and them certifying it provided an adequate supply all year long, blah, blah, blah.
Went back to the lawyer. He charged us more money to write letters that did nothing. Went to another lawyer who said the first lawyer was OK, and he charged us money. Finally, we bought a new well.
A year or two later, met another lawyer in a social setting. He said the first thing Lawyer # 1 should have done was to establish an Escrow account with money from the sale for about a year. Said it was standard practice in Estate sales.
So, we got screwed - twice!
Here's the question. How do you know which lawyer is a good one?????
srt- not sure about your question but i can tell you when they are lying. ;D
You can always tell when lawyers are lying, if their lips are moving their lying. :D :D