Wells Fargo funding supported the Center’s heirs’ property research in 2024 and 2025 to address a major gap in the national evidence base by focusing on our understanding of New York’s experience. The research estimates the scope of heirs’ property statewide, the housing and equity at risk for low- and moderate-income heirs, and the scale of capital needed to resolve cases at meaningful volume.
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Key takeaways from the Research:
A large, undercounted problem: Thousands of likely cases statewide. In New York City, conservative estimates place more than $400 million in property at risk annually; more realistic estimates approach $4 billion, concentrated in Brooklyn and Queens, and likely affects thousands of residents.
Disproportionate impact: Likely heirs' property cases cluster in majority-minority census tracts, below-average-income areas and neighborhoods with higher shares of homeowners 65 and older.
Ongoing predatory activity: Investors acquire fractional interests — sometimes through coercion, deception or forgery — and then pursue forced sales through partition actions.
Stronger protections, remaining gaps: New York’s Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act and the 2024 Heirs Property Protection and Deed Theft Prevention Act strengthened safeguards, but enforcement, education and resources remain critical.
Proactive, high-impact solutions exist: Early estate planning is the most effective prevention strategy; affordable, flexible capital helps clear title, stabilize ownership and preserve intergenerational wealth.
