Heirs' property often begins when a landowner dies without a will. Ownership splits among the heirs, then splits again with each new generation, until dozens of relatives may hold a small share. Many Black families in the South held land this way because they had little access to lawyers and distrusted legal systems that had excluded them.
The arrangement is fragile. Under traditional partition law, any co-owner, or a developer who buys one share, can ask a court to order the whole property sold. These forced sales often bring far less than the land is worth. Heirs also struggle to get mortgages, federal farm loans or disaster aid without a clear title, a problem that surfaced after Hurricanes Katrina and Maria.
The Uniform Law Commission drafted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act in 2010 to give families the right to buy out a share before a sale. By 2025, about two dozen states and the District of Columbia had adopted it. The 2018 Farm Bill also helped heirs access USDA programs.