Title Resolution is a Legal Process.
When heirs’ property owners want to clear their title, transfer ownership to fewer heirs, or fight against predatory attempts to take their land, they need legal help. An attorney is required to guide the process, which is different in every state.
Clearing a tangled title involves:
Identifying all living heirs
This may include distant or unknown relatives who don’t live on the property.
Recording each heirs’ share of ownership
This could involve a breakdown of each heir’s share by percentage.
Consolidating ownership
If desired, the ownership can be consolidated to one or more heirs.
This process is often complicated, especially if families disagree or if there are too many heirs to locate and contact.
The legal system is not accessible to all heirs’ property owners.
Legal assistance may not be affordable for heirs, and navigating the process without an attorney is very difficult. Sometimes, heirs’ property is created and sustained because landowners do not understand or trust the legal system, which makes them less likely to seek legal help. Additionally, many heirs’ property owners who live in rural places also live in legal deserts, meaning that there is most likely not an attorney in their town, or maybe even in their county.
There are opportunities to support heirs’ property owners throughout this process with different forms of funding. Each step in the legal process comes with specific costs that may become obstacles for heirs’ property owners or their attorneys. Throughout this description, investment opportunities are discussed for each step of the resolution process.
Steps to title resolution
Disclaimer: This is a highly simplified overview of the process of title resolution, and should not be taken as legal advice. Legal processes are nuanced and region-specific, and require the work of a licensed attorney.
Client Eligibility
Before a property owner can proceed with their case, it must be determined that they are eligible for representation. For legal aid organizations, this may be ensuring that the property owner meets their income requirements or that their case is not too complicated for the legal team to take on. For many private attorneys, this step could involve asking the landowner if they can afford the legal fees.
To support this step, attorneys and legal aid organizations can use multi-year funding promises to hire support staff who can handle client screening.
Client Intake
An heirs’ property owner has to be taken on by a legal organization as a client. This step includes telling their attorney about their property, the other heirs, and what they hope to achieve at the end of the legal process.
To support this step, attorneys and legal aid organizations can use multi-year funding promises to hire support staff who can perform client intake consultations.
Family Tree Research
Sometimes on their own, and sometimes with the guidance of their attorney or another professional, the property owner must establish their family tree. Beginning with the last person whose name is recorded on the property deed, the heir must trace all of their descendants throughout the family to know who has a claim to the property. This step is necessary to find all of the living heirs to the property.
To support this step, legal organizations can use funding to hire genealogists, private investigators, or support staff to research the family lineage and expedite the process. Community-based organizations can also assist with family tree research.
Title Work
Once the names of all heirs are known, a title search is often performed on the property. Title searches are used to find any outstanding debt, liens, or other “clouds” on the property, which would need to be resolved, or “cleared,” before the title is transferred. At the end of this step, if enough information has been gathered, the heir’s attorney may perform a title opinion, which is a complete, legal record of the heirs to the property.
To support this step, legal aid organizations can use funding to pay title search companies, whose fees often fall on the client.
At this point in the process, some heirs’ property owners do not need to move forward. They may choose to use the title opinion or another legal document to prove their ownership interest in the property, which may allow them to assume an existing mortgage, home repair funding, disaster relief, or another goal that they began the process with.
Consolidation of Ownership
If the property owner wishes to consolidate the ownership of their property, they may purchase other heirs’ interests. The family can also form an LLC. or a trust to manage the property together through an entity. If those options are not available, court actions may be taken to reduce the number of owners of the property. Court actions require that formal notice be sent to all heirs, both known and unknown, either through certified mail or printed publication.
To support this step, funding for certified mail and publication fees, court fees, entity formation, and buyout funds can allow heirs to move through the court process or avoid it by purchasing other heirs’ interests.
Confirmation of Ownership
After the title is cleared and interests are passed to individuals or an entity, the property records must be updated with the names of the living heirs who now own the property. This step is crucial to make sure that the owners have their names on the property.
To support this step, property owners or legal aid organizations can use funding to pay for filing fees, recording fees, and probate fees, as well as transfer taxes.
The title resolution process is a nuanced collection of steps taken by heirs’ property owners and attorneys to reach their goals. Not every heirs’ property owner begins the resolution process in order to consolidate their property ownership or reduce the number of heirs to the property. By working with an attorney, heirs’ property owners can complete some or all of the steps toward resolution to obtain a mortgage, update property records, access financing, or simply identify all of the heirs with claim to the property.
Key takeaways
No. In order to correctly move through the process of title resolution, property owners must work with an attorney or legal aid organization.
Resolution depends on the end goals of the property owner and the capacity of the attorney they are working with. For some property owners, resolution is having a list of every living heir to the property. For others, resolution isn’t achieved until there is only one legal owner of the property.
This depends on the case, client, and the legal organization working on the case. Generally, flexible dollars are incredibly useful to pay for steps in the process that attorneys cannot perform, or for fees associated with title resolution that would fall to the client to pay.