In 2022, the BC Law Initiative on Land, Housing, & Property Rights (ILHPR) was founded by Professor Thomas W. Mitchell to address disparities in homeownership, in estate planning, and in the preservation of property rights more broadly that disadvantaged communities experience—communities that are disproportionately, though not exclusively, communities of color. Under the direction of Professor Mitchell, ILHPR conducts research, devises legal reforms and policy solutions, trains law students, and engages in community outreach to ameliorate the systemic problems that disadvantaged communities face with respect to various property, housing, and community development matters.
One of the most pressing issues for ILHPR is that of heirs’ property, a highly unstable form of property ownership that was the focus of a two-day conference at BC Law this spring. When a property owner dies intestate—lacking a formal will or estate plan—his or her descendants can experience decades of legal headaches in their efforts to establish their full legal ownership of the property to avoid having severely diminished property rights. Here’s a quick look at the scope of the problem, and some efforts to improve estate planning outcomes within communities at risk of property loss.
To view the infographic, click here.
Sources: “A Methodological Approach to Estimate Residential Heirs’ Property in the United States,” The Housing Assistance Council, December 2023; Ryan Thomson, Auburn University Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology; Center for Retirement Research at Boston College: “Can Incentives Increase the Writing of Wills? An Experiment”; and “Wills, Wealth, and Race,” based on Health and Retirement Study.