From the Field 

“A home is so much more than just a house, right? And it’s more than just wealth to people as well. There’s just so much sentimentality and value placed on it that is so hard to measure from a monetary standpoint… I just think it’s the right thing, you’re keeping people housed. You’re preserving generational wealth. You’re making sure houses don’t fall into disrepair and abandonment. You’re making sure the taxes are getting paid, and so the city’s getting funded, schools are getting funded…Someone’s home is so meaningful to them.”

Attorney

Pennsylvania

“In the most complicated heirs’ property situations, the ones where the last landowner of record is from 100+ years ago, the fact is, while these families might have problems, they still own the property. They’ve still held onto it, and that’s impressive in and of itself.”

Attorney

North Carolina

“To get all the way to clear title is going to be impossible in some of these situations without a huge investment of resources, both from the family and from (funders) with the current systems that exist.”

Attorney

Arkansas

“Our strategy in this has been to intentionally breakdown many of the power dynamics that exist in the grant making funder world and to have a very person-centered approach.”

Funder

Washington

“The one thing that needs to change, for all of us, not just funders, not just attorneys, not just researchers, we should probably all stop talking about heirs’ property like it’s a four letter word and it’s a problem. Heirs’ property is not just a problem to be solved…. Heirs’ property in and of itself is a fully legitimate way to own property, it’s just a tenancy in common. It’s existed forever…Heirs’ property in and of itself is not a bad thing. Owning it is not a bad thing, but there are issues that can come along in certain contexts, and so the funding is to solve the issues associated with heirs’ property, not the ownership itself. Being sensitive to these families, to a certain degree, is recognizing that.”

Attorney

North Carolina

“In our case because we have funding, you actually give people the money. And then let them do what they need to do with it, like have that that trust in the relationship and know that it’s going to take long.”

Funder

Washington

“There’s still a lot of work to be done to bring low to moderate income homeowners into the financial mainstream. I just feel like we take it for granted that there’s a two-tiered financial service system. The top tier is banks and credit unions and that second tier is all the alternative service providers where we know many low to moderate income households operate on a daily basis. So, they’re kind of in the shadows of this mainstream financial service market. We know that home ownership, right, or the home technically, for low to moderate income households is their largest asset purchase that they’ll make in their lifetime. It is where they’re holding all their savings and equity to pass on to future generations.”

Funder

National

“… any time you’re working with communities and trying to respect generational practices within their cultures, that means you have to be part of the community… and join with the community.”

Attorney

Colorado

“We talk a lot about title clearing as the sole and primary kind of tool that we use to clear heirs’ property. But I think it’s important to realize that the status of title as it is has protected that land as well. Especially when you’re talking about ownership that has been, you know, owned by one family since the 1940s, the 1920s.”

Attorney

North Carolina

“Informed decisions that impact their legacy… that’s what we really want them to have, is that power, versus feeling powerless. I don’t want to keep using the word power, but you know it doesn’t feel good to feel like you have no say in what’s happening in your legacy, in your life, in your family. But having that knowledge can make the world of difference.”

Practitioner

Mississippi

“I’m trying to empower people to confidently utilize their property, and manage their property in a democratic way.”

Practitioner

West Virginia

“I think tenancy in common is a viable way to own property, and it has been, and it and it will continue to be”

Funder

National

(An effective method of resolution is) “I think really getting the family in the process of meeting together, talking together, developing a shared vision of how they want to move forward and then seeing that there is actually opportunity. I think there’s been a long period of time where people see heirs’ property as kind of a dead zone, like oh, we can’t do anything with the land anyway. You know, it’s too much work to figure out. And so, we’re not going to do it. And I think when people start to realize that there are programs that might help or ways that they can reduce the taxes so that they can continue to hang on to the land or even be able to actually use the land, then it becomes much easier to bring people to the table.”

Attorney

North Carolina

“… one of the major flaws in property systems in this country is not recognizing communal living… it fractures family to insist on a single ownership model… (it) would be a huge advancement, and a huge improvement would be to be able to recognize…members of a household can include anybody who’s living there…”

Attorney

New Mexico

“I push back on the idea of… having title resolved as the primary outcome, because I think that is not always the most appropriate resolution and it pushes people to move faster than they need to.”

Attorney

North Carolina

“Sometimes it’s an informal agreement that actually works well, where there’s three siblings, one lives there and the other ones are fine with them living there as long as they pay the property taxes and… maintain the house. That’s a pretty common informal agreement.”

Attorney

Florida

“We often encounter clients who are emotionally attached to the land, through familial attachment and generational attachment.”

Attorney

Kentucky

“The most affordable house is the one that your family already owns.”

Funder

National

“[Growing up] all I ever heard was ‘heirs’ property,’ and it was something to be proud of, until I became an attorney and realized that that’s a problem.”

Attorney

Florida

“You just don’t practice in the same way in rural areas that you would in urban areas.”

Attorney

Alabama

“I think it is inappropriate to only think (sole ownership and residence on the property) are the only goals… (there are) lots of different properties, lots of different families. They want things in different ways… Ownership of residential property is only one of those, and… a successful strategy around heirs’ property…. would be as inclusive of all of those as is possible.”

Funder

National