The Heirs’ Property Research & Policy Analysis Project investigates the systemic barriers tied to generational land ownership in Arkansas.

The owners of heirs’ property (property passed to family members by inheritance without a will) often cannot access or properly transfer the value of their property due to a lack of legal resources, protection and support.  This leads to significant loss of land from communities across the state and contributes significantly to wealth inequality and a lack of asset protection and homeownership for communities of color and other historically excluded communities.

Although Arkansas has adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act (UPHPA), a best practice reform, there remain significant threats and barriers for owners of heirs’ property in Arkansas, especially for Black land owners.  These include: efforts to repeal the UPHPA, a need for more technical assistance resources and additional policy protections beyond the UPHPA. The project’s overall focus will be Community Education/Resource Development (e.g. Legal guides to land use options, Estate Planning, Title Clearance) and Policy Analysis with a focus on assessing the impact and evolution of the UPHPA in Arkansas and neighboring states.

Arkansas Appleseed’s Legal Justice Fellows will work closely on the development and implementation of these projects.

Property that Provides outlines potential ways to gain income from family property despite these challenges and limitations. It also provides best practice legal strategies in forming a business. It was drafted by students of the Business Innovations Legal Clinic at Bowen School of Law from 2017-2022 after years of research, and developed with the feedback and support of various stakeholders, including Arkansas Appleseed Legal Justice Center, legal specialists at Bowen School of Law, and elsewhere, and other local community voices. We hope you and your family find it helpful. This toolkit should be used in conjunction with the excellent guidance written by outside sources covering the process of how to clear title on one's heirs’ property in Arkansas. Names and locations of those guides are provided at the end of this document.