Heirs’ Property, Land Grant Institutions and SERA-49
By Kurt Smith
North Carolina State University
According to a recent study, the United States will lose between 1.1 and 1.6 million acres of agricultural and forested land (American Farmland Trust 2022).While there are many reasons for land loss, it should be noted that In many regions of the country entire industries are reliant on these lands to provide them with raw materials to produce products, provide us with clean air and clean water and help define the character of many communities (Butler, Leatherberry 2004). The problem has been disproportionately harmful to the African American Community which has experienced a 90% land loss between the tears of 1910 and 1990 (Mitchell 2001).
One of the greatest threats to successful small family landownership and succession to the next generation is a problem known as heirs property ownership. Heirs’ Property ownership represents the most insecure form of ownership of common property in the United States. These owners cannot secure loans or participate in government programs designed to help them, which in many cases prevents them from building, maintaining, and preserving wealth through their property. Heirs’ properties often go unmanaged and are largely unavailable for forestry and to return a profit to the landowners. If you would like to learn more about Heirs’ Property, North Carolina State University has the this publication available to help you.
Thanks to a travel scholarship from ANREP, I was able to attend and participate in a joint gathering between the working groups of Small-Scale Forestry and the International Knowledge Exchange of IUFRO (International Union of Forestry Research Organizations) which was held in Seattle September of 2025, a presentation was given to expose members to publications dealing with heirs’ property and invite them to participate in the newly formed Southern Extension Research Area Committee known as SERA-49. As a result, several land grant institutions not involved in the work articulated their intention to join in the research of SERA-49 and heirs’ property.
The new organization of researchers across the Southern Land Grant Institutions was formed and approved in 2023. The Southern Research Extension group named SERA-49 conducts research on Heirs’ property across the south at the family, community and regional levels. SERA-49 efforts joined with networking through the SRDC and the SDFR Policy Research Center at Alcorn State University, 1890 and 1862 land-grant universities, Law Schools, and CBOs has produced several funded proposals to investigate heirs’ property impacts. Educational materials on Successional Planning and Estate Planning continue to be developed by the group. Through “train-the-trainer” workshops we have developed an increased capacity of Extension professionals to meet the needs of heirs’ property owners.
SERA will continue to collaborate on research and curricula development to a) update materials to address regional nuances in heirs’ property issues; b) create materials that are culturally appropriate to diverse racial, ethnic, language, and regional identities. and c) identify, develop, when needed, educational and technical materials that help heirs’ property owners make productive use of their land through connection with agricultural, forestry, and tourism opportunity programs.
Heirs’ property owners can be challenging to work with, and it is exacerbated by a lack of trust developed through generations of interacting with a legal system which did not afford them equitable access or protection (Mitchell 2001). Whatever the cause, each successive generation likely results in more heirs being added to the land’s inheritance and no clear title existing. The best anecdote to creating vulnerable heirs’ property is for extension professionals to encourage working lands owners to talk with family members and to plan with an experienced attorney. One of many tools available to help extension professionals help landowners with succession planning is available through NC State Forestry Extension.
American Farmland Trust, (2022) Farms Under Threat 2040, July Report
Brett J. Butler, Earl C. Leatherberry (2004), Journal of Forestry, October/November, pgs. 4-9
Mitchell, T. W. (2001). From reconstruction to deconstruction: Undermining black landownership, political independence, and community through partition sales of tenancies in common. Northwestern University Law Review, 95(2), 505-580.
