Problem
We have a new client, Mrs. Dowager, who has asked me to help her with a matter unlike any I have experienced. The State of Nevada is going to condemn a part of a 15-acre piece of property (called Blackacre) that our client has owned for 20 years. The State is condemning a strip of land to widen a road and will also build a sound wall and will also transfer some of the property to NV Energy to put in some power poles. But there is a problem. Our client was trying to divide the land into two parcels to transfer to her two children. She was going to wait until she died, but if the State condemns according to its plan, the north half of the property will have no access to roads (due to the sound wall and the power poles).
i. Is there any way we can stop the condemnation? If yes, how; if not, why?
ii. What can we do to help our client? Can we make the land worth more? How? Would it help to divide the land now? If so, how would we do that, and why would it help?
iii. What are the consequences if she just sticks to her plan of dividing the property in half after she died, how would we do that, and does the condemnation, as she fears, really mess that up?