Your family has held this land for generations. Let's make sure it stays in the family.
Maybe it's Grandma's house, or acres your family has farmed or lived on for decades. Everyone calls it "the family land." But when you try to sell it, borrow against it, get repairs covered, or even pay the taxes in your own name, you find out the title isn't clear. That's heirs' property, and it's one of the most common ways families lose land they've held for generations.
What is heirs' property?
Heirs' property is land that passed down without a will or without a probate case, often across several generations. Instead of one clear owner, every heir owns a share of the whole property together with all the others. Over time, the number of owners grows: children, grandchildren, and cousins who may live all over the country and may never have met.
Why it's a problem
- You can't sell, refinance, or borrow against it without the agreement of all the owners, and title companies and lenders usually won't work with an unclear title.
- It can be hard to qualify for help such as disaster aid, home repair programs, or farm programs, because you can't prove you own it.
- A forced sale is possible. Any one co-owner, or an outside investor who buys a single heir's share, may ask a court to divide or sell the property.
- Unpaid property taxes can lead to a tax sale if no one is clearly responsible.
- It keeps getting harder. Each generation that passes without a plan adds more owners and more complications.
Protections under Alabama and Texas law
Both Alabama and Texas have adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. When a co-owner asks a court to divide or sell heirs' property, the Act gives family members important protections, including notice, a court-ordered valuation, a chance for other heirs to buy out the share of the person seeking a sale, and a preference for dividing the land rather than selling it whenever that's fair. Knowing how to use these protections can be the difference between keeping the land and losing it.
How we help clear the title
- Find out who owns it. We review deeds, records, and family history to identify the heirs and their shares.
- Open the estates that were never settled. Through probate or a determination of heirs, we establish who inherited.
- Bring the family together. Where possible, we help heirs reach an agreement, including deeds that consolidate ownership with the family members who want to keep the land.
- Protect the family in a partition case, using the protections Alabama and Texas law provide.
- Put the land in a plan. Once the title is clear, a trust or other plan keeps it from becoming heirs' property again.
What it costs
Title-clearing and probate work is billed hourly. Once the title is clear, your own estate plan is offered at a flat fee. We explain how billing works before we start.
Attorney Gregory Robinson is licensed in Alabama. Attorney Hector Faulk is licensed in Texas.
Contact us to talk about your family land or call 334.440.6165.
Part of Clear Title, Fresh Start. See all six destinations: How We Help
