Summary of a Recent
Judicial
Development in
Estate Planning and Taxation
Miniature Horse Farm Fails to Qualify for
Assessment as Farmland
Ross H. PiferNational AgLaw Center Graduate Assistant
In Brighton v. Rumson Borough, 22 N.J. Tax 39, 41-42 (N.J. Tax Ct. 2005), the landowners owned a 6.176-acre tract of real estate and sought to have "their property valued, assessed, and taxed as farmland" based upon their activity of raising miniature horses on the property. The Tax Court of New Jersey stated that it was "undisputed that the raising of the miniature horses for sale" was an agricultural use. Id. at 42. In order to qualify for the farmland assessment, however, a minimum of five acres was required to be actively devoted to agricultural use. See id. In determining the amount of land devoted to agricultural use, the court stated that "land under the farmhouse, and such additional land as may be actually used in connection with the farmhouse, . . . is excluded in determining the total area." Id. at 49 (citing N.J. Admin. Code tit. 18 § 15-4.4). The court concluded that "it [was] clear that the paddock and part of the barn" were actively devoted to an agricultural use and that the "areas immediately surrounding the house [were] used for residential purposes." Id. at 54. With regard to the remainder of the property, the court concluded that it was "occasionally used by the family, and occasionally used by the horses, but, for the most part, [was] not actually devoted to anything." Id. Therefore, the court held that "[t]he property fail[ed] to meet the statutory requirements for assessment as farmland" because the landowners had "failed to establish that a minimum of five acres of the subject property [was] actively devoted to agricultural use." Id. at 55.
The case was decided on January 31, 2005; this summary was posted June 10, 2005.