Heirs’ property (sometimes known as family land) is property that has been transferred to multiple family members by inheritance, usually without a will, as stated in the Farmland Access Legal Toolkit Heirs’ Property Factsheet. Descendants are considered tenants in common. Communally accessible land is undervalued in our system that prioritizes private land ownership. The Dawes Act is central to the displacement of Indigenous peoples’ from their ancestral land. This act is one example of how the federal government forced private land ownership on people practicing communal land stewardship.
The 2018 Farm Bill was pivotal in granting people with heirs property access to USDA programs. Despite these changes in the Farm Bill, many Black agrarians with heirs property lack access to the same subsidies and opportunities to cultivate, maintain, and live on their land as other farmers.

Resources:

• Farmland Access Legal Toolkit for Heirs’ Property
• Lone Star Legal Aid, Clearing the Title Guide
• Union of Concerned Scientists, Lost Inheritance, Policy Brief
• Journal of Rural Southern Sciences, How Much Heirs’ Property is There?
• Southern Rural Development Center
• Federation of Southern Cooperatives