“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” -Chinese Proverb

Heirs’ property is extremely common in the lowcountry. It is not unheard of for a few dozen people to have an interest in a single property. Owning a property with multiple people is tricky on the best of days. Some common problems that arise are:

1. An unfair burden: Most of the heirs have nothing to do with the property. While they have a right to any proceeds should the property be sold, the taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs usually fall on a single heir. This is a huge burden over time and gives them no more rights to the property than their second cousin Jerome who moved to New York 25 years ago. They may be unwilling to share the tax burden, but you know they will be first in line for a check due to a sale. This can breed resentment among family members.
2. Lack of clear title: Since there is no clear chain of ownership, this makes it nearly impossible to get loans. No bank is going to provide a mortgage to an individual who may only have a 10% interest in the property.  This lack of clear title also affects the property value as it limits the property to cash buyers and to people willing to deal with the headache of co-ownership with people they have never met.
3. Different Goals: Whenever you have this many people together on any topic, people have different goals. Some may want to sell, others may want to hold it, and someone else may want to build a house on it.

How does this happen?

In South Carolina, when a property owner dies without a will, there is an agreed upon disbursement of the property’s interest in lieu of a will. For example, if James passes, half interest may go to his spouse, with the remainder split equally amongst his 4 children. So his wife has 50% and the children have 12.5% each. Now if you do this over 3 generations, and each of those children have multiple children and/or marriages, you can see how people end up with fractions of a percent ownership in some situations.

How do you fix it?

To revisit the quote above: the best time to fix heirs’ property is 20 years ago, the second best time is today. Just because your grandfather and father did not have written plans for their interests in a property, does not mean you can not have it figured out moving forward. All too often we see a single heir fall ill after paying the taxes for 20 years and miss the tax payment. The property then goes to tax sale. This is why you need a plan today.

A quiet title action is usually always the remedy. With a quiet title, you essentially serve notice to anyone with an interest in the property via certified mail and notices in local publications that you intend to “quiet” any claims they may have to the property. Think of it as “speak now or forever hold your peace.” Unfortunately, it isn’t cheap with the average quiet title action costing between $5-20,000. This should cover all filing costs, attorneys fees, certified mail, advertising costs etc. If you have multiple heirs contest it, the cost can quickly rise. The large range is dependant on the number of heirs on the title and other complications. SCpropertyhelp has been through the process many times and can recommend professionals who can give you the best pricing. Please contact us if you need help.

Also, please read our other articles such as how to lower your property taxes for information to streamline the messy process of owning property.

***SCpropertyhelp is not an attorney and this should not be construed as legal advice. We do our best to serve others and to be factually accurate so please let us know if you notice any inaccuracies***