Heirs' property issues—which can allow predatory investors to force a sale of a shared family property at less than market rates—affect many families and communities across the country, including in Massachusetts. Recently, BC Law's Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights (ILHPR) worked with the Players Coalition, a nonprofit organization of professional athletes, coaches and owners across leagues dedicated to improving social justice and racial equality, to help place former New England Patriot Devin McCourty’s op-ed on the dangers of heirs’ property in The Bay State Banner.
The ILHPR and the Players Coalition are working to elevate public understanding of heirs’ property and to promote solutions such as the adoption of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA). Although more than two-thirds of the U.S. population lives in states and jurisdictions that have enacted the UPHPA, Massachusetts is stuck with antiquated property laws and has not yet adopted the UPHPA even as families across the state continue to lose wealth due to preventable vulnerabilities.
McCourty’s op-ed is the result of the deepening of a relationship that began before the Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights (ILHPR) had been formally established at BC Law. Several years ago, an NFL athlete reached out to Professor and ILHPR Founder Thomas W. Mitchell seeking legal help for his own family’s heirs’ property. Professor Mitchell is nationally recognized as the principal drafter of the UPHPA making him a trusted leader in this area.
That initial outreach ultimately helped connect ILHPR’s work with the Coalition—which led to Professor Mitchell appearance as a speaker at the Coalition’s “Building Black Wealth” panel during Super Bowl LIX week in New Orleans, joining leaders such as the Executive Director of Louisiana Appleseed, Adrienne Wheeler, and Players Coalition leaders Kelvin Beachum, Malcolm Jenkins, and Jeremiah E. Brown. The panel explored the impact of heirs’ property, legal reform, and community development strategies that build and protect intergenerational wealth.
More: Read Devin McCourty’s op-ed in the Bay State Banner.