Why This Matters
Featured Resources
Legislation
HEIRS Act of 2025 (H.R. 1640)
Led by Reps. Nikema Williams (D-GA) and Byron Donalds (R-FL), is an important priority for ALTA’s work on heirs’ property and seeks to improve pathways to establish clear title and expand access to federal programs and resources for affected property owners. You can find a list of cosponsors here.
Letter
HEIRS Act Support Letter - H.R. 1640
ALTA supports H.R. 1640, the HEIRS Act of 2025, which would help families establish clear title and preserve inherited property. The letter highlights how the bill would expand legal assistance, housing counseling and title-clearing support.
Advocacy & Policy
Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act
The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act is a model law designed to protect heirs’ property owners from forced sales that can strip families of inherited land and generational wealth. It creates a fairer partition process by giving co-owners notice, appraisal rights, buyout opportunities and sale procedures intended to preserve property value.
HEIRS Act Support Letter
This coalition letter urges Congress to pass the HEIRS Act of 2024, bipartisan legislation designed to help families resolve heirs’ property issues and establish clear title. The letter explains how heirs’ property can limit access to repairs, financing, disaster assistance and fair market value when property is sold.
Resources & Tools
Understanding Heirs’ Property
This one-pager explains what heirs’ property is and how unclear ownership can prevent families from financing, transferring or improving real estate. It also outlines the legal, financial and economic harms heirs may face, along with steps that can help establish clear title and protect family property.
News & Insights
State Attorneys General Ramp Up Enforcement Against MV Realty
A growing number of state officials are taking action against MV Realty’s controversial “Homeowner Benefit Agreements,” with recent settlements in Colorado, Nevada and Pennsylvania providing significant relief to homeowners and reinforcing concerns raised by ALTA and the title industry.
Heir Disputes Threaten America’s Great Wealth Transfer
In the coming decades, an estimated $124 trillion in wealth is set to change hands globally—but tens of billions of dollars in U.S. real estate may never reach its intended heirs. The culprit isn't market volatility or bad investments. It's the absence of a will, which experts warn is a far larger problem than most people realize, and it threatens to derail one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history.
North Carolina AG Secures Judgment Against MV Realty
A North Carolina court issued a summary judgment against MV Realty barring the company from enforcing its predatory 40-year Homeowner Benefit Agreements. The judgment applies to MV Realty PBC LLC, MV Realty of North Carolina LLC and MV Brokerage of North Carolina LLC.
Title Action Network Sweepstakes
Join or Renew Your TAN Membership
Take a moment to register for or renew your TAN membership today, and you will be entered to win one $100 Amazon gift card! It’s free and only takes a minute. TAN membership expires each year, so renew now to stay engaged and ready to act when we call on title professionals to help rally support from lawmakers. Be sure to invite your colleagues to join you in keeping our industry’s voice strong.
Tangled Titles and Frozen Assets
The One Sumter Economic Development Foundation and the Americus Sumter County Land Bank Authority have partnered to spread the word about a major issue facing Sumter County and the help available to residents facing it – heirs’ property. Heirs’ property is a home or land that has been passed through generations in a way that ends with multiple people owning the same piece of property.
Delaware Bill Would Simplify Property Inheritance for Those Who Die Without Will
When Delaware homeowners die without a will or trust, their property can linger in legal limbo, shutting out heirs and leaving homes vulnerable to neglect or loss. The measure has gained traction among advocates for aging populations and low-income families. Supporters say the change would help prevent “tangled titles,” which occur when heirs informally inherit homes but lack legal ownership.
When Leaving the House to Your Heirs Backfires
Americans have trillions of dollars of wealth locked up in their homes, and passing it on at death can get messy quickly. The typical way of outlining who should get the house in a will can cause delays after death—so much so that most states have set up a new way for homeowners to document their wishes.
What Some FHLBs are Doing to Untangle Tangled Titles
NaThe Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta exceeded its commitment to the Heirs' Property Family Wealth Protection Fund by nearly $1 million. It has awarded a total of $5.9 million to 21 organizations through its member banks in amounts ranging from $152,127 to $500,000. Meanwhile, the FHLBank Atlanta announced in September it increased its funding to $5 million from the original initiative of $1 million it announced in 2022.