Center for Heirs' Property Preservation

“The form 990 is provided for review to the finance committee for a comment period. At the end of this period, questions and comments are addressed and the form 990 is officially approved for issuance.”

“The center's executive director's salary is negotiated based upon the budget. Comparability data is used to determine compensation for executive director from data on other legal nonprofits of similar size.”

“Comparability data is used to determine compensation for attorneys hired from data on other legal nonprofits of similar size.”

“The center allows pubic inspection of its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are available to anyone who makes a request. Form 990 is on outside website at guidestar.org.”

“To protect heirs' property and promote the sustainable use of land to provide increased economic benefit to historically under-served and low- wealth families through legal and forestry education and services. Heirs' property (hp) is land that is owned in common by multiple family members. In the lowcountry of sc, much of this land is owned by african american families, who passed down their land without the benefit of a will, so it became heirs' property. This is an unstable and risky way to own land, because it is easily lost. The only way to resolve hp issues is through a legal process, which many hp families cannot afford. The center helps prevent the loss of heirs' property by providing legal education and direct services and promotes the wealth-building asset of land ownership through sustainable forestry education and services. Forestry is a 21 billion industry in sc. Rampant development acutely threatens heirs' property (hp) across sc. Taxes and land values continue to increase. Hp families are more likely and able to keep their family land and pass it down to the next generation if it is protected and economically productive. The successful impact of the center's work in 2018 is not only measured in numbers (quantitatively) but qualitatively, as well. Qualitative impact is measured in changes in attitude, behavior and actions taken by the families with whom we work. Our target audience is predominantly rural, often low-wealth, historically underserved african american landowners who have been traditionally left out of the education and program opportunities that would have helped them as landowners. In some cases, it resulted in them losing their land. When one of our clients was asked why his father didn't know more about what to do with the family land - "my father was not welcome where they might have found out." when these landowners come into the center, they share some characteristics. They are distrustful, afraid of losing their land, skeptical of anyone offering help, struggling with ownership of land with which they can do very little to benefit their family, not inclined to change the status quo, confused about heirs' property and reluctant to take action. With access to education, tools, programs and experts provided by the center, these families increase their confidence, pride and sense of self- determination and belief in their ability to make informed decisions about protecting their land and realizing the economic benefit of landownership. They are also proud to be honoring their ancestors' legacy by transforming their land into a wealth-building asset for generations to come. Empowerment has been overused but, in this instance, it is 100% accurate, and it is changing the face of persistent poverty across our 15-county service area - one family at a time.”

“The center provided legal education and direct legal services, which resulted in the following: quantitatively, the center conducted 34 (proposed 30) education seminars on heirs' property issues and resolution and forestland management which increased knowledge among 685 (proposed 600) landowners, resulting in 357 (proposed 325) landowners coming into the center for additional information and help. The center accepted 41 full clients with 34 pending clients and resolved 29 titles on land with a tax-assessed value of 2m. Center attorneys and volunteers also drafted 175 simple wills to help prevent the growth of heirs' property. Heirs' property story family agreement? Not a chance when m. Came into the center, he didn't believe that there was any chance that his family would agree on what to do with their land. He is not alone. Many heirs' property owners share the same doubt. The center doesn't have a magic wand, but our lawyers have developed and successfully used a mediation tool called the "family presentation" to help families work through past hurts, grudges and misunderstandings to reach family agreement. In m.'s case, his family found their own way through their differences. "this was a case of two lawyers - willing to discuss alternate resolutions and a family that did the right thing in the end," said center attorney josh walden. M. Was living in the family home, which he had renovated and improved with his own money. Now he was afraid of losing it because of lack of family agreement, until walden proposed a "buyout" by way of owner financing. M. Would buy out the ownership of the other heirs and own the property outright himself. There would be a promissory note and mortgage held by the heirs secured by the property. The lawyer for the other heirs took the proposal to them. M.'s investment in updating the home was factored into the sale price. The family was fair and m. Was fair and agreement was reached an agreement. A quiet title was filed, and all title issues were successfully resolved. Sometimes a "family presentation" is needed and, sometimes, a family works things out with a little help from center friends.”

“The center provided historically under-served landowners (hulos) with forestry education, access to technical and financial assistance, expert partners and usda programs and connections markets to sell their timber products, which resulted in the following: -four (4) educational workshops were conducted at which 74 individuals learned the importance of sustainably managing their family forests for maximum profit. -115 hulos received technical assistance from forestry experts -63 landowners became interested in starting forestry enterprises -27 hulos received a total of 359k in financial assistance from us department of agriculture for natural resources conservation service (usda/nrcs) "environmental quality incentive program- and other programs to implement their forest management plans. Forestry story "don't sign anything" the disembodied voice of louis, sr., the patriarch of the family, boomed periodically from the back of the house. The rest of the family was seated in the front living room listening to a center forester talk about the forestry program. Louis, sr. Took his time learning about the center's "sustainable forestry and african american land retention program" (sfp) before becoming part of it. He knew that too many african american families had lost their land when they signed documents they may not have fully understood. With development in high gear, louis, sr. Worries about the small landowners in his community. "we need to help those who don't know what to do, so they don't do fly-by-night things." louis, sr. Bought his family home and 39 acres from his cousin and then 53 acres from his father. His nine children all worked the land growing up. They kept cows, hogs and chickens; grew deer corn, soybeans, cane and sweet potatoes, and tended a family garden. The children remember pulling peanuts from 4am to long after dark on saturdays. "we hated it, but it gave us our work ethicand teamwork ethic." in this family of eleven, mom and dad were both teachers and all of nine children are professionals - many with advanced degrees. Son l, ii is now the primary caretaker of the property. "the land is 'home' for all of us. It's our common bond. We always know we can come back." before sfp, the family didn't have a forest management plan. They leased some of their land for farming and hunting to help pay the taxes. The trees supplied them with fuel, but there was no re-planting. Today, with the help of the center and its partners, louis' family has a long term forest management plan and has received financial assistance through the usda/natural resources conservation service (nrcs) "eqip" (environmental quality incentives program) to re-plant loblolly pine and grow deer corn. Education made the difference. "at the sfp seminars, we're learned about our rights are and what we needed to know," said l, ii. "it's given my family hope that we can develop an economic plan for the future to hold on to our land. Personally, i want our forest to look like the national forest," he smiled. "it's just a matter of execution."”