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ABSTRACT
The existing literature identifies heir property, land held communally by heirs of someone who has died without a will, as a primary cause of land loss among African Americans and a major factor contributing to persistent poverty in the South's demographically-defined Black Belt. Despite the importance of this form of property, little systematic research has been done to quantify the extent of heir property or the potential wealth tied up in clouded titles. This study documents the presence of more than 1,500 heir property parcels in one Alabama Black Belt county (Macon) and describes the methodological challenges involved in such research. Our analysis identified distinctive characteristics of and significant relationships between a set of key ownership variables (taxpayer location, size and value of land, structural improvements, and municipal incorporation). We argue the need to document the extent and consequences of heir property to spur action by legislators, Extension Systems across the region, and pro-bono attorneys, among others, to address the personal and economic costs associated with this form of insecure ownership.
When a landowner dies intestate (without a probated will), state laws of descent and distribution regulate what happens to the property, which usually gets passed as an undivided unit to the decedent's heirs. Because there is no right of survivorship, the property becomes further fractionalized and the number of coowners increases with each passing generation. Often only one or a handful of heirs remain on the land, paying taxes and maintaining the property. Yet these co-owners hold no more legal claim to the land than those living several states away. This form of property ownership (legally known as "tenancy in common") is common among low-income rural populations, including Appalachians and Native Americans (see Deaton 2009; Gilbert and Sharp 2001). The prevalence of heir property relegates "a broad group of African Americans who inherited land through intestacy to a disadvantaged class of property ownership" (Rivers 2007:7).
Heir property can be a source of family unity and a place of sanctuary in time of need, but the literature is full of conflicts over heir property that have torn families apart (Dyer and Bailey 2008; Lewan and Barclay 2001; Persky 2009). There is a consensus in the literature that heir property has been a primary...