Opinion ID: 1764873
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Relevant Statutory Provisions Governing Award of Just Compensation for Property with Heritage Value

Text: Missouri's Constitution provides that private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation. Mo. Const. art. I, sec. 26. In the absence of a constitutional definition of just compensation, this Court has defined it as: what a reasonable buyer would give who was willing but did not have to purchase, and what a seller would take who was willing but did not have to sell.... The measure of damages for the taking is to be determined as of the time of the taking. In re Armory Site in Kansas City, 282 S.W.2d 464, 470 (Mo.1955) (citations omitted). In 2006, the legislature enacted a statutory definition of just compensation: Just compensation for condemned property shall be ... (1) An amount equivalent to the fair market value of such property; (2) For condemnations that result in a homestead taking, an amount equivalent to the fair market value of such property multiplied by one hundred twenty-five percent; or (3) For condemnations of property that result in any taking that prevents the owner from utilizing property in substantially the same manner as it was currently being utilized on the day of the taking and involving property owned within the same family for fifty or more years, an amount equivalent to the sum of the fair market value and heritage value.... Sec 523.039 (emphasis added). The property owner shall have the burden of proving to the commissioners or jury that the property has been owned within the same family for fifty or more years. Id. Heritage value is defined in section 523.001.2 as: the value assigned to any real property, including but not limited to real property owned by a business enterprise with fewer than one hundred employees, that has been owned within the same family for fifty or more years, such value to be fifty percent of fair market value. (emphasis added). Thus, heritage value is the additional value given to property that has been held within the same family for fifty or more years. If the taking prevents the owner of such property from utilizing the property in substantially the same manner as it currently is being utilized, the result under section 523.039 is that the amount of the heritage value shall be added to fair market value to determine just compensation.