Heirs' Property

How much heirs' property is there? Using LightBox data to estimate heirs' property extent in the U.S.

Thematic area: Heirs' Property

G. Rebecca Dobbs, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

Cassandra Johnson Gaither, USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station

The ramifications of a tenancy in common or heirs’ property ownership are extensive. This kind of tenuous ownership affects not only individual families but also the economic health of the typically minority and lower-wealth communities where these properties tend to cluster. Very little research has identified heirs’ property extent at a broad scale, however. We present results of our approach to identifying heirs’ parcels for every county and census tract in the U.S., using geospatial methodologies and aggregated parcel records acquired from LightBox. The method estimated 444,172 heirs’ parcels for the U.S., not including territories. The combined acreage is 9,247,452 worth $41,324,318 billion. We discuss shortcomings of secondary parcel data and the problems this presents for accurately assessing heirs’ property extent, while the spatial location aspect allows us to analyze for spatial patterns such as clustering, which supports new analyses of issues associated with heirs’ property.

Identifying heirs' property: Extent and value across the South and Appalachia

Thematic area: Heirs' Property

Ryan Thomson, Auburn University

Conner Bailey, Auburn University

A database of property tax records was used to locate and quantify the extent of heirs' property across 11 states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia). Based on previously published work, an index of four variables was then developed to estimate the likelihood that a given parcel was heirs’ property. The authors conservatively estimate that there are at least 496,994 parcels of heirs’ properties with a combined total area of 5.3 million acres and a market value of $41.9 billion in these states.

Heirs’ property: Where, how much, and why does it matter?

Thematic area: Heirs' Property

Conner Bailey, Auburn University

G. Rebecca Dobbs, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

Cassandra Johnson Gaither, USDA Forest Service

Ryan Thomson, Auburn University

Heirs’ property comes into being when the owner of real property (usually a house and/or land) dies without a will. All heirs (e.g., spouse and children) become owners of an undivided interest in the property, with the division determined by state law. Heirs’ property is significant as a social and historical phenomenon because property has been passed down without wills across multiple generations of Blacks in the South and whites in Appalachia because limited educational opportunities and patterns of exploitation led them to distrust the legal system. Heirs can number in the hundreds, presenting obstacles and vulnerabilities and limiting property ownership as a means of building intergenerational wealth. Quantifying the extent and value of heirs’ property is necessary to inform legislation and policy, and to guide future research. We summarize the findings of two peer-reviewed studies designed to meet these needs.

Referral pathways and service connections among heirs' property owners in South Carolina

Thematic Area: Heirs' Property

Jennie L. Stephens, Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation
Jasmine Simington, University of Michigan

Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in alleviating heirs’ property ownership precarity have long sought to connect these owners to titling and land management resources, but there is limited scholarly evidence on successful interventions. Using administrative data from the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation®(CHPP®), this article explores the demographic characteristics, types of direct legal services received, and referral pathways of landowners seeking legal assistance from CHPP® between 2017 and 2021. We find that applicants are primarily elderly, Black women, referred through four main pathways: (1) owners’ personal networks, (2) CHPP® outreach efforts, (3) CHPP® partner organizations—including public, private, and nonprofit agencies, and (4) word of mouth (other individuals/entities not formally connected with CHPP®, including outside legal and forestry professionals). Lastly, we identify a strong desire for estate planning amongst applicants, despite documented legal distrust amongst heirs’ property owners. This analysis has important implications for designing targeted interventions to assist heirs’ property owners beyond the South Carolina context.

Black land: Research note on the heirs’ property to poverty pipeline in Louisiana

Lauren Hall, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Ifeyinwa F. Davis, Louisiana Appleseed Center for Law and Justice

Successful heirs’ property reform – the Uniform Partition Heirs’ Property Act (UPHPA) – is widespread in the U.S. Despite these advancements, Louisiana falls behind. Louisiana is the only state in the Deep South that has not enacted legal reform to protect heirs’ property owners. Heirs’ property locks many Black Americans into persistent poverty and economic oppression, eliminating generations of Black American wealth. This research note describes and examines these issues. Articulating the history of systemic legal oppression of Black land ownership, this article demonstrates how the current legal state shuns Black Americans economically and socio-politically disadvantages them and examines how enacting the UPHPA could help Black Louisianans achieve economic stability.