The National Association of Real Estate Brokers recently released a study titled “Heirs Property in the United States—Its Destabilizing Structure and Contribution to Black Property and Wealth Erosion.”
When land is maintained as heirs’ property, all descendants hold fractional ownership, making the property vulnerable to legal challenges, forced sales, and exploitation by developers or outside parties. Exploitative and illegal actions resulted in Black families losing 90% of the land held in 1910 because of limited access to legal advice, discriminatory actions by federal, state, and local governments, and violence and hate crimes.
“As this comprehensive study demonstrates, public policies have aided private and public entities in the unscrupulous and predatory acquisition of land owned by Black families,” said Courtney Johnson Rose, president of NAREB. “Heirs property issues disproportionately impact Black households, thereby making the need for urgent reforms as important today as they were a century ago.”
The study, conducted by James Carr and Michela Zonta, reveals that historic loss of property by Blacks contributes significantly to the wealth gap between the races. It states that farmland once owned by Black farmers has been routinely absorbed by white owners and has often merged into larger estates that would attract the attention of Wall Street investors.
As in the case of federally mandated discriminatory homeownership practices against Black households, the study maintains that the loss of Black heirs’ property has frequently been supported or carried out by government entities.
“Discriminatory practices related to Heirs’ property continue today,” the study says. “Only a small number of Black farmers have managed to retain or reclaim their land, leaving the majority without ownership of valuable agricultural land, particularly in the Deep South.”
Rose says that NAREB recognizes the collective effort needed to address this issue and vows to work with other organizations to help Black families reclaim and preserve their land and reverse decades of inequity. The organization supports the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which makes it easier to pass family wealth to the next generation, and the National Heirs’ Property Protection Legislation, the Empowerment and Inheritance Rights (HEIR) Act, the Heirs’ Estate Inheritance Resolution and Succession (HEIRS) Act, and The Good DEED Act.
“As NAREB’s report makes clear, tangled titles have an extraordinarily damaging impact on Black communities and their ability to build generational wealth,” said U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.). “My legislation, The Good DEED Act, provides critically needed resources that will help document and secure Black land ownership, as well as protect the wealth and economic mobility of impacted families. I applaud NAREB for bringing attention to this important issue.” NAREB has also partnered with the National Bar Association (NBA) to help Black families understand the laws related to heirs’ property and get legal representation. As part of NAREB’s Black Wealth Tour, NAREB hosted NBA’s “What to do with Big Mama’s House” course in cities nationwide to inform families about heirs’ property issues and provide resources.
