C.J. Segerstrom & Sons

About Us

The Certificate of Partnership for C.J. Segerstrom and Sons was formally executed on the 15th of November 1937, in Santa Ana, California. The partnership included William O. Segerstrom, Fred A. Segerstrom, B.C. Segerstrom, Harold T. Segerstrom, Veronica P. Segerstrom, Anton H. Segerstrom, and Nellie Ruth Segerstrom.

There was a short time when the business was referred to as Segerstrom Brothers but returned to C.J. Segerstrom & Sons when Henry T. Segerstrom joined the family business in 1948. Ownership of the business was held in undivided interests until the mid-1950s, when two of Henry T. Segerstrom’s uncles pass away. Both men were bachelors with no community property protection. Outlined in William and Fred’s will, Anton and Harold Sr. would inherit, as individuals, the total interests of their two deceased brothers’ shares in the family business. To settle their estates, the firm would need to sell nearly 700 acres of farmland in order to raise the funds to pay the inheritance taxes. The tax laws however, allowed an inheritor to sell inherited property at the estate’s appraised value with no capital gains tax. Henry T. Segerstrom suggested that he buy the personal interests the land his father inherited from William and Fred at the estate valuation. Anton agreed and the purchase arrangement was successfully made. Harold Sr. made the same arrangement with his son, Hal.

As legal advice on vested properties periodically changed over the years, the family formed partnerships to hold titles and each had individual interests in a partnership.