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Enabling Owners of Heir Property to Clear Title and Preserve Wealth ~ Families living on heir property (property passed down to family members through generations outside of the legal system) lack clear title and are unable to access the wealth-generating tools commonly associated with land ownership. They also face a heightened risk of losing their property. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita revealed that many low-income people throughout the Gulf South were unable to qualify Road Home funds because they lived on heir property.
Louisiana Appleseed, along with lead attorney volunteer, Malcolm Meyer of Adams and Reese LLP, is finding solutions to provide owners of heir property with the tools to protect themselves from land loss, generate wealth, and access recovery funds following major disasters. As a result of Louisiana Appleseed's advocacy efforts, the Louisiana Legislature passed a resolution, forming a state committee to study the effects of ownership of heir property and issue legislative recommendations. Louisiana Appleseed provided the committee with the background, research and recommendations necessary to develop and implement the legislation. In 2009, the legislature passed Act 81, enabling thousands of Louisiana residents access to legal procedures that will assist them in inexpensively and expeditiously obtaining clear title to their homes.
In 2010, the Louisiana Legislature approved state Sen. Ed Murray's request (SCSR 5) to continue to study heir property. The joint study committee, along with stakeholders from around the state, analyzed the rights of a spouse to receive title to property upon death of the other spouse.. Louisiana Appleseed’s most recent piece of legislation, Act 323, was signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal in 2011. Act 323 was introduced by Senator Edwin R. Murray and passed unanimously through the House and Senate. It further expands the use of the heirship affidavit, providing additional relief to the thousands of Louisiana residents living in homes without clear title.
Mr. Malcolm Meyer of Adams and Reese LLP and Louisiana Appleseed Executive Director Christy Kane have provided numerous presentations on this topic around the country, including a seminar at the ABA Equal Justice Conference in Phoenix, AZ. They have also presented testimony before the Texas Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, at the committee’s request, on heir property, lessons learned after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Louisiana’s legislative reforms. They continue to participate in the Texas Senate Committee’s working group on the topic, recently presenting on the necessity for community education.
Louisiana Appleseed and its project partners have developed a community education booklet, Protect Your Property, to assist community members in identifying whether they own heir property, why it benefits them to have clear title to their property, and how they can do so. 10,000 copies of this booklet have been distributed across the state, and the book was recently revised to reflect the recent improvements in Louisiana’s small successions laws.
In 2011, Louisiana Appleseed and The Pro Bono Project, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, and The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law were awarded a two year grant from The Greater New Orleans Foundation wherein they work together to educate community members about title clearing and provide them with the legal services they need to address their property issues.
Project partners: Alabama Appleseed, First American Title, Georgia Appleseed, Louisiana Bar Foundation, Louisiana Civil Justice Center, South Carolina Appleseed, Stanley Ray Trust, Texas Appleseed, Adams and Reese LLP and Jones Walker
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Increasing Latino access to financial institutions, through education, outreach and advocacy ~ Latino immigrants are statistically much less likely to have bank accounts than the remainder of the population and therefore often pay exorbitant fees to cash checks and send remittances, must sometimes resort to predatory lending services, are unable to build assets and credit histories and have recently become easy targets for robbery. Based on the work of other Appleseed Centers, this project links banking institutions with members of the growing Latino population to increase access to financial institutions.
In 2009, Louisiana Appleseed released a report on the services provided by local financial institutions and will conduct financial education programs aimed at increasing Latino access to financial institutions. The report will highlight the economic importance of immigrants both locally and nationally and will provide specific recommendations to financial institutions for increasing immigrant access to their services. Appleseed will use its report as a tool to advocate for the increased financial service and product options available through mainstream financial institutions for the Latino population. The project also provides financial institutions with guidance on regulatory issues pertaining to the implementation of these programs.
Project partners: Catholic Charities/Hispanic Apostolate, Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Puentes New Orleans and the law firms of Adams and Reese, Baker Donelson and Skadden Arps.
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