Heirs Property, when boiled down to its bare essence, is about family and land, the two most complex aspects of all of our lives and fundamental components of our economic system.

Protecting Farmland from Developers

The Center’s staff secured the right for an heir to buy-out the 40% interest a non-family member/developer had acquired in the 100-acre family farm.

Using Timber Sales to Manage Legacy Land

The Center’s staff helped two generations of heirs property owners identify timber resources and connected them with reputable foresters to generate funds to pay property taxes.

Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act

The Center’s staff used the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (“UPHPA”) to utilize the right a client to purchase an opposing heir’s interest in her home for $11,500. This prevented the client from becoming homeless and provided her with clear title to her home.

Qualifying for Home Repair Programs

The Center’s staff conducted a Groundbreaking Virtual Adoption of an heir in the Probate Court. This resulted in new case law, clear title, and a new home for the client through a Georgia Department of Community Affairs CDBG program.

Foreclosure Prevention

The Center staff stopped a foreclosure when a client’s husband passed away, and the client inherited her home with four stepchildren. The Center’s staff filed a Year’s Support for the client, which ultimately obtained ownership of the house for the client. While the probate court processed the Year’s Support Petition, the Center’s staff filed a petition to have the client appointed temporary administrator of her husband’s estate so that she could communicate with the mortgage holder and effectively stop the foreclosure.

Recovering from Natural Disaster

The Center’s staff successfully petitioned to have a client appointed executor of his mother’s estate after his mother’s home was crushed by a tree. Although his mother was living in the home at the time of the natural disaster, she passed away shortly thereafter and the home became heirs property before she could repair it. Because of the tangled title, the client could not complete the demolition of the home nor negotiate with the insurance company. With the Center’s staff’s legal help, the client is now serving as executor of his mother’s estate and has the legal authority to repair the home.

Selling an inherited house to fix up a home

The Center’s staff successfully petitioned to have a client appointed administrator of his father’s estate and for leave to sell real property, which allowed the client to sell his father’s uninhabitable house. The client’s sister used her portion of the sale proceeds to leave subsidized senior housing and fix-up the home she had shared with her late husband.

Preventing Heirs Property through Intentional Estate Planning

During a Center outreach, a client learned that she was creating heirs property in her Last Will and Testament. The Center’s staff redrafted the client’s Will and prevented the creation of heirs property.

Using Outreach/Education to Clear Title

During an outreach, Mr. Lynn revealed that he had been holding on to his wife’s original will since she passed away in 1980, believing that the will was sufficient to prove ownership of his home. Because of the Center’s Outreach Programs and subsequent legal work, Mr. Lynn has clear title to his home.

Reducing Blight

The Center’s staff accepts clients referred by code enforcement, and resolves tangled title to increase housing stock and reduce blight. The Center’s staff successfully resolved a client’s code violations by probating her mother’s estate, clearing title to the property, and creating the legal right for Ms. Ivy to sell the property. The Center’s staff provided the client with a list of reputable realtors, and she sold the house for $50,000 cash. Finally, the Center’s staff helped the client complete an estate plan that passes some of her new wealth to her grandchildren.

Housing Stability for Grandparent raising Grandchildren

The Center successfully petitioned to have Ms. Raines appointed executor of both her mother and stepfather’s estates, secured quit claim deeds from each of her siblings, and cleared the title to her home. Ms. Raines was caring for three minor grandchildren, including one child with cancer. Ms. Raines is now sole owner of the property, and as a result, she has secure housing for herself and her three grandchildren.

Conservation Easement

The Center’s staff helped six heirs clear title in order to close a USDA Conservation Easement, which reduced their farm debt and created economic sustainability for their family farm, which is over 100 years old, and enabled them to create a succession plan for passing the farm to the next generation.

Our Impact