Heirs’ Property Program Helps Landowners Protect Generational Wealth 

Jun 16, 2025 | Leadership

A man in a maroon shirt stands at a podium holding a microphone and a sheet of paper while speaking to an audience. His conference badge reads "Small Farms Week." In the background, a yellow banner reads "College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences University Farm," with a few attendees seated at round tables covered in blue and yellow tablecloths.

Biswanath Dari, Ph.D., agriculture and natural resource specialist and assistant professor with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, speaks at an educational forum at 2025 Small Farms Week.

ACROSS N.C. —According to Biswanath Dari, Ph.D., understanding and dealing with heirs’ property is an emotional journey as much as a practical one involving legal and financial experts.

“First of all, you have to have a solid reason to transform your heirs land,” said Dari, an  assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and natural resource specialist with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T. “You need to be mentally strong enough to accept that facing this issue can be difficult and very time consuming.  For the older generation who might’ve grown up on family land, there can be a lot of emotional and cultural values associated with (dealing with heirs’ property issues).”

Dari and colleagues from N.C. State University are tackling those problems with an award-winning program called “Understanding Heirs Property at the Community Level in North Carolina.” Funded through a $150,000 USDA Risk Management Agency, Southern Rural Development Center and Alcorn State University grant, the program consists of summits across the state that cover the history of heirs’ property, informs participants about estate planning and legal strategies to secure their land, and provides help finding assistance for affirming land ownership.

Two participants sit at a table covered with a blue tablecloth, collaborating during Small Farms Week. The woman on the left, wearing glasses and a dark gray shirt with a conference badge, points at a smartphone held by the man on the right, who wears a pink shirt, glasses, and a blue Farm Bureau hat. Papers, a notebook, and pens are spread out on the table.

Linette and Richard Hewlin, 2023 N.C. Small Farmers of the Year finalists, look over information at a 2025 Small Farms Week educational forum.

The team conducted six summits in 2024, and another two are planned for 2025 at Western Carolina University in Jackson County, and at the Vance County Extension Center. The team, which includes N.C. State faculty Kurt Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor and Extension specialist in forestry (land retention); Noah Ranells, Ph.D., NC State Extension’s eastern director of NC FarmLink; and Robert Andrew Branan, J.D., Associate Extension professor, agricultural and resource economics; also offered a February summit in Mecklenburg County.  Mecklenburg County Extension Director Barbara Worley, Ph.D. helped organize the summit, which focused on urban heirs’ property and rural property where development is rapidly changing the landscape.  

Heirs’ property is defined as land passed down through a family – often over generations – without the use of a will or probate court. Without a proper will or probate to confirm ownership, Dari said, families with generational land run the risk of involuntary land loss, as well as farmland being sold well below market price. Black landowners, who are more likely to lack documentation for their land and often avoided the legal system during the days of Jim Crow, have been disproportionally impacted by heirs’ property land loss, Dari added. 

“There’s a dire need for information on this issue, especially as property values are appreciating,” said a landowner who attended a summit in Union County last summer. “In terms of protecting generational wealth – especially for people of color – I would say, ‘Don’t sleep on it.’ Get your act together and do what you have to do to either keep it or find out what other options you have.” 

The program participant, who asked to remain anonymous, owns about 50 acres in Mecklenburg County with her siblings and other family members. At the Extension workshop, she learned about opportunities for income on the mostly wooded land from rentals, hunting, and forestry, and picked up tips on how to obtain titles and reduce taxes. After the Extension program, the family decided to form an LLC for their land, giving four of 20 family members power of attorney. 

Equipped with new knowledge, the family is now making decisions about what will be the most advantageous uses of their land. In an area not far from Charlotte that is growing rapidly, such knowledge can protect heirs’ property owners from unscrupulous developers and others looking to get valuable land cheap.  

Often, heirs’ property has been in the family for generations, sometimes since the early days of emancipation. A family can live on that land for generations without needing deeds and lawyers. However, obtaining government resources, protecting family wealth for future generations, and avoiding losing money on quick land sales requires understanding and awareness on heirs’ property and taking action, according to Dari. 

“This is often an issue with Black and BIPOC farmers,” he said. “They thought, ‘This is my land.’ They started growing crops, built a house. And historically that land has been passed on, but it’s not legally owned.” 

A study by researchers at Auburn University estimates 537,224 acres in North Carolina are defined as heirs’ property with a value of $8.8 billion. The Mecklenburg County landowner said understanding heirs’ property is so important for Black landowners that she encourages other landowners to learn more and delve into its complexities. 

“It’s a lot to learn and a lot of hurdles,” she said. “But for us, it’s a sense of peace and gratefulness to know that we have this nest egg.”