{"id":1899,"date":"2021-12-17T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2024-04-25T23:19:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T03:19:22","slug":"losing-the-family-home-to-partition-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/losing-the-family-home-to-partition-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Losing the Family Home to Partition Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Strangers Divide Inherited Land<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An Asheville Watchdog<\/em> investigation, as reported by the Citizen Times<\/em>, painted a very grim picture of partition law<\/em> in North Carolina this year. Also known as the forced sale<\/em>, the partition law in most states can be seized on by shrewd investors who know how to grab land from struggling people. These clever investors manage to buy parts of properties that are co-owned \u2014 usually by multiple heirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nineteen states have rewritten their partition laws, but North Carolina has yet to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What Happened in North Carolina?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A niece and uncle inherited family land in West Asheville. The real estate they owned, half and half, was worth something. It had a property tax assessment of $123,600.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter the shrewd investors who go around looking for heirs and trying to get them to sell. The goal of these investors is to grab hold of a partial interest in a jointly held title. After they convince a part owner to give up a portion of the real estate, the investors can use their newly acquired share of ownership to ask a court to force the sale of a property with a divided title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the West Asheville case, the niece and uncle owed $1,615 in overdue property taxes on the house. Neither had funds. In 2018, the county foreclosed on the property and sent the land to auction. That\u2019s when the investors made their move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the foreclosure auction in progress, a certain William Alexander offered a box containing $4,400 to the co-owning uncle in return for half the property. It was a paltry sum, but the uncle believed Alexander was trying to help get the home back for his niece and himself. The uncle received an \u201cOption to Purchase,\u201d signed with a notary by William Alexander, that appeared to allow him a year to reclaim the title for $4,400 \u2014 plus Alexander\u2019s expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander\u2019s company immediately sold the interest for $55,000. Then the buyers went to court with a partition filing against the niece. Upon court order, the whole parcel could then be sold \u2014 and it would be, to developers. In North Carolina, buyers don\u2019t have to bid from any minimum price to acquire a title from a court-ordered partition sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The niece, a cook, didn\u2019t attend the partition hearing. After taxes and court fees, she would get nothing at all for the inherited equity she lost in the court action. Because of the low price paid for the home, she could have asked the court for a new sale. She didn\u2019t know this. She couldn\u2019t afford a lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uncle became homeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro tip:<\/em><\/strong> It\u2019s important to hire an experienced lawyer if you believe you could face an unwanted partition sale. A request for a partition sale is hard to stop once it\u2019s filed, because of the principle that tenants in common<\/a> have a right to sell their individual interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Can Developers Exploit Property Heirs Through Partition Sales?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Some states\u2019 laws leave a lot of room for exploitive investors to take advantage of na\u00efve sellers. To stop some of the worst abuses of partition law, committees working on behalf of the Uniform Law Commission have drafted a model partition law<\/a> for states to follow. It\u2019s called the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. It has been introduced in North Carolina. It has the support of key environmental, historical, and social groups, including the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Audubon North Carolina, the Land Loss Prevention Project and the Black Family Land Trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the new model becomes law, here\u2019s what would happen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n