Draw a Little Schematic

James died and left his wife Sarah half his farm and the rest was to be split between his two sons, William and Riley. Wanting to move west, Riley shares his portion to his mother and his brother. I wanted to know how much of the farm Sarah and William had at that point.

A little chart was helpful–although not entirely necessary.

Sarah owned the half she originally had and she had one-half of Riley’s one-fourth (an additional one-eighth). This gave Sarah 5/8 interest in the property.

William owned the original one-fourth he had and one-half of Riley’s one-fourth (an additional one-eighth). This gave William 3/8 interest in the property.