There is an estimated 32 million acres of heirs’ property in the United States. These properties are largely located in the Southeast.

The Heirs’ Property Education Program (HPEP) helps landowners increase their knowledge about their property for maximum protection and production by educating landowners about practices that could help them to retain land in families and create generational wealth.

Heirs’ property landowners are generally unable to optimally secure, manage or expand their operations, making it difficult for them to adopt new production practices which leads to their inability to increase profitability. Because clear title is a requirement, heirs’ property landowners are unable to take advantage of USDA, FEMA, and other government programs, purchase property insurance, or apply for mortgage loans. Through the HPEP program, our purpose is to work to ensure landowners are informed about heirs’ property and land retention so they can improve their opportunity to build generational wealth.

To request support regarding heirs’ property and to access heirs’ property resources, please complete the Heirs’ Property Landowners intake form.

Partners

We wish to acknowledge and thank the following partners for providing support, in-part, through funding, capacity-building, and through the educational curriculum, Understanding Heirs’ Property at the Community Level, which enhances our ability to raise awareness about heirs’ property and to provide educational information to landowners through the Heirs’ Property Education Program (HPEP).

HEIRS’ Property Landowners

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

Heirs’ Property is property that is passed down informally from generation to generation when the original landowner dies without a will, or the will was not probated or administered .

An heir is anyone related “by blood” to the person whose name is on the deed to the property, and those persons related to him/her by law or birth, including:

  • A spouse by legal marriage
  • A spouse by “common law” – providing they have lived together and presented themselves openly to the community/public as husband and wife
  • A spouse who is separated but not legally divorced
  • Children by birth
  • Children by legal adoption
  • Outside children
  • Children of a separated but not divorced spouse (there is no such thing as “common law” divorce)

  • State laws determine who inherits your land
  • Can potentially include multiple generations and hundreds of relatives
  • No single heir has clear title to the entire parcel. Each owner has an interest in the entire asset rather than each heir having their own piece of the asset.

Legally divorced spouses, “raised” children (not legally adopted), and any non-family members are not heirs to property that is left when a person dies without a will.

The definition of “clearing” the title is having the name of the deceased person removed from the deed of the property by legal measures and replacing it with the name(s) of the living heirs of that deceased person. With a clear title, you can obtain a mortgage to build a new home, obtain a loan to make repairs to your current home, access USDA funds for property enhancements or disaster recovery and repairs.

Yes. Family agreement is generally required before an attorney can proceed with resolving property issues. Most attorneys will not risk taking an heir’s case to court without a family agreement because an heir who doesn’t agree can stand up in court and challenge the proceeding. If that happens, the family runs the risk of the court ordering the property sold.

No, we cannot give legal advice. We can, however, assist you by providing guidance on legal services that are available. To ensure that all relevant information is obtained so we can better assist you with options you can consider, call us at (936) 261-5002 to schedule a free appointment to talk about your particular property issues.

There are no fees charged to heirs’ property owners who utilize our services. From the moment you contact us and complete an Heirs Property Landowner Intake Form, all services provided by the Heirs Property Education Program to help you resolve your property issues are free. Landowners are responsible for paying for costs associated with their case, which might include legal fees, court filing fees, cost for publication in the paper, fees for a title search and the cost for any survey the family wants to have completed, etc.

Each case is different and varies with each family situation. Resolving an heirs’ property issue can take anywhere from twelve months to several years.

Our mission is to help families wishing to keep their family land. We will be happy to provide anyone wishing to sell their family land with a list of attorneys.

FAMILY TREES ARE IMPORTANT. Creating your family tree is a necessary part of resolving heirs’ property issues. All parties who have an interest in the property in question must be accounted for and notified of upcoming actions. We can provide resources to help you to do this critical work.

We provide special presentations to help families come together and reach an agreement about what to do with their land. The presentation is a customized version of our Heirs’ Property Education seminar – specifically tailored to provide the information and answers that a particular family needs. We can also provide mediation services to help facilitate the process.

Contact Us

If you have questions or would like to provide feedback or a testimonial about how the Heirs’ Property Education Program has benefitted you and your family, please send us an email through this form and we will get back to you as soon as we are able!

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