BC Law’s Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights (ILHPR) works to preserve and expand property rights for individuals from disadvantaged communities, who often lose out on generational wealth when a property-owning ancestor passes away without leaving a will, creating a legal morass for inheritors known as heirs’ property. It is an issue that disproportionately affects people of color in the US due to historical and structural factors, and which contributes to the exacerbation of the significant racial wealth gap in the country.
One of ILHPR’s most recent endeavors, the Homeownership Estate Planning Project (HEPP), provides crucial housing counseling education to disadvantaged homeowners in Cambridge and Boston, and connects them with legal representation to create an estate plan. One of the first BC Law students to get involved with HEPP was Darla Pascal ’27. BC Law Magazine sat down with her to explore her recent experiences working with homeowners.
You had an interesting double major of Public Health Sciences and Philosophy as an undergrad. Tell us a bit about your path from there to the work you did in the subsequent few years—and what made you decide to attend law school.
I was born and raised in Haiti. I came into undergrad and then law school with a lot of background in the immigration and nonprofit space. During summers I would work for a local nonprofit in Boston to serve Haitian migrants and their families.
Haitians typically go to school for nursing and engineering. So, I was not surprised when my parents wondered why I wanted to study public health sciences! I just wanted to keep my options open. I took a philosophy course and I fell in love with it, and then I took a logic course and found out that many attorneys actually major in philosophy before going to law school. I remember calling my parents and saying, “I always had this dream when I was a kid to become an attorney, and you told me no.” My dad said, “Yeah, we kind of felt like this would be a great fit for you, but we just wanted you to arrive at that conclusion on your own.”
Before coming to BC, I worked in city government in Boston doing immigration work. And with all this, I always say I know that God just paved my path. It really wasn’t something that I aimed to do when I was in high school. I had law school in the back of my mind, but it really wasn’t a dream anymore. So I’m just very grateful to be in this position and to be doing this work now.
The ramifications of heirs’ property are huge for so many everyday people trying to preserve generational wealth. How did you become so invested in the issue as part of your law school education?
I took a legal writing course with Professor [Joan] Blum, and she called me to her office to tell me about [ILHPR’s HEPP program]. I read up on it a little bit and thought it was really interesting, because I wanted a client-facing opportunity, given my deep experience with it and passion for that kind of work.
I met with Professor Thomas Mitchell, [founding director of the ILHPR], and I was thoroughly impressed. That led to me applying to join ILHPR and HEPP, and I was placed at the Estate Planning Project at the Legal Services Center (LSC) at Harvard Law School. I did that over the summer, when I worked primarily with veterans, then did an externship last semester and worked with low income descendants of enslaved people. It was great to see Harvard expand beyond providing estate planning services to veterans to also considering other people who might be in the local area.
Can you tell me more about what you did there? What was the client interaction like in addressing this new area of planning—and hopefully having such a positive impact on their descendants’ future well-being?
My supervising attorney taught me how to write wills, durable powers of attorney, medical directives, and health care proxies. We met with the clients and their families and then made sure that their wishes were reflected in every document. That took a lot of tedious work. Sometimes I had to go back and meet with a client and redraft HIPAA authorizations, things like that. We sometimes drove out to clients’ homes. It was great because you really become a part of that person’s life.
Sometimes our clients didn’t really have anyone to share their stories with, or it was a really complex process and very sensitive. They end up telling you about their family dynamic. One example: I spent the semester meeting with a client and on the day that we were supposed to execute all her documents, she explained that she had a falling out with the person she had named as her personal representative, and it wasn’t really a safe relationship anymore. I had to make the executive decision and counsel my client and say, “I don’t think you should sign these documents today.”
To have her property passed down from generation to generation was important to her, but I had to ensure that that was done properly. It did make me feel like we made a difference in that situation. So what’s been ingrained in me is being sensitive to the client’s needs and learning to say the hard things, like “I don’t think your child has your best interest at heart and they should not be named in these documents.” And also balancing that with respecting the client’s autonomy. It’s really fascinating work, but it is also sometimes very sad. I remember I cried that day, just listening to my client explain her family situation and accepting that there was really nothing I could do. It was tough to hear.
Any other client work stand out for you from your time at LSC?
Another client was in the hospital with a terminal illness. He was incredible—so communicative and he would always joke around with me. I knew that he was sick but hoped he would recover. He passed away. It was sad, but I was grateful that we were able to execute his documents for him, because he had that peace of mind near the end; he didn’t have to worry about where his property was going.
ILHPR plans to expand this initiative to provide state-specific resources across the country. How do you see such efforts as integral to helping preserve generational wealth, especially among communities of color?
As a person of color, I know the estate-planning myth that only white wealthy families from affluent communities engage with these kinds of services. Even now, I’m thinking about my parents—we’re all immigrants. My parents were able to purchase a home by the grace of God, a home they love. And I want to make sure that that home is passed down from generation to generation because that’s what they want. Unfortunately, even my parents—or a lot of people from my church—don’t really take the initiative to get an estate planning attorney. Wealth is not just the dollar amount in your bank account; it’s your property. So I’m grateful these kinds of state resources are being developed because they are so important. I can’t emphasize this enough: not enough low-income people of color are aware of how accessible estate planning services actually are.
If someone is reading this Q&A and thinks they or someone they know could benefit from planning and resources to avoid future heirs’ property difficulties, where would you direct them for more information?
I think a program like the LSC at Harvard Law would be helpful. They provide free services (though sometimes there’s a waiting list). If you do a simple intake or get someone on the phone, they’ll actually assist you as fast as they can if you qualify. It’s advisable to seek similar programs at other law schools or find an affordable estate planning attorney and start with a free consultation. We need to be proactive and ensure that properties are passed down from generation to generation and there are no gaps along the way.
Trusts aren’t just for the wealthy. There are all different kinds of trusts that are useful for all kinds of people. If you have a loved one who is dependent on government benefits, you might need a trust to ensure that the passing down of your assets does not affect their eligibility status. We can take care of the future now and share knowledge of what’s at stake so that people are aware.