Preserving Family, Through Your Land

Stephen Small’s Preserving Family Lands has become a trusted resource because it explains how legal, tax, and planning tools—from conservation easements to ownership structures—can reduce risk and improve the chances of keeping land intact across generations. His central insight rings true: simply wanting to leave land to your children does not mean they’ll be able to afford it—or agree on how to keep it.

Preserving Family Lands provides the framework; we help you apply it. Together, we support something bigger than any single tool: preserving family, through your land.

From Strategies to Enduring Decisions

Where Preserving Family Lands explains what’s possible, Maine Land Legacy helps families determine what’s realistic. 

• Translate complex options—conservation, succession planning, shared or group ownership, sales, gifts, and entities—into clear scenarios families can discuss.

• Explore how different paths affect not just taxes, but fairness, responsibility, access, and long-term family relationships.

• Weigh emotional, cultural, ecological, and market value alongside legal and financial considerations, so decisions feel both responsible and true to the place.

Land is rarely just an asset. It’s where stories are told, traditions arise and a deep sense of belonging takes root. Without planning, families may carry a quiet worry: What will happen to this place—and to us?

Using time tested planning concepts as a shared reference point, Maine Land Legacy helps families move from uncertainty to a clear, shared path. Proactive planning becomes an act of caring for the land and the relationships that make the place meaningful.

It’s about preserving family, through your land, so what you value today can continue—intentionally, realistically, and with care.