Referral Pathways and Service Connections Among Heirs’ Property Owners in South Carolina

Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in alleviating heirs’ property ownership precarity have long sought to connect these owners to titling and land management resources, but there is limited scholarly evidence on successful interventions. Using administrative data from the Center...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of rural social sciences 2023-12, Vol.38 (1), p.39-58
Main Authors: Stephens, Jennie, Simington, Jasmine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black people
Black women
Estate planning
Farms
Forestry
Fractional interests
Home ownership
Intervention
Land management
Land use planning
Landowners
Legal services
Nonprofit organizations
Outreach services
Ownership
Policy making
Preservation
Property
Referrals
Social networks
Tenure
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Summary:Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in alleviating heirs’ property ownership precarity have long sought to connect these owners to titling and land management resources, but there is limited scholarly evidence on successful interventions. Using administrative data from the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation® (CHPP®), this article explores the demographic characteristics, types of direct legal services received, and referral pathways of landowners seeking legal assistance from CHPP® between 2017 and 2021. We find that applicants are primarily elderly, Black women, referred through four main pathways: (1) owners’ personal networks, (2) CHPP® Outreach efforts, (3) CHPP® partner organizations—including public, private, and nonprofit agencies, and (4) word of mouth (other individuals/entities not formally connected with CHPP®, including outside legal and forestry professionals). Last, we identify a strong desire for estate planning among applicants, despite documented legal distrust among heirs’ property owners. This analysis has important implications for designing targeted interventions to assist heirs’ property owners beyond the South Carolina context.
ISSN:2151-4178
2151-4178
DOI:10.34068/JRSS.38.01.06