The most effective way to prevent land loss by owners of heirs’ property is by providing the vital legal services that owners lack before their land is threatened by partition sales. SCSJ is excited to work with families that own heirs’ properties to draft wills, develop partnership agreements, and negotiate creative solutions to ensure stable ownership of their property.
SCSJ represents the heirs of Daniel and Francis Pitt, who owned over 150 acres in Wilson and Edgecombe County, North Carolina, in their efforts to maintain and utilize this familial land. Representing the children and grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Pitt, SCSJ conducted a title-search, confirming the family members with an interest in the land and met with the family to identify legal means of realizing their goals. Ultimately, the family chose to form a Limited Liability Corporation, establishing rules for the management of the land as well as safeguards to ensure the land remained in family hands. SCSJ drafted the LLC operating agreement and is also exploring various means of maximizing the land’s financial capacity with the family.
Speaking of the challenges they face, LLC manager Felton Wooten notes his family “lost one farm in a judicial proceeding in the early 1960s and our family wanted to be certain nothing could happen like that again.” However, “there were very strong differences in our family that we could not resolve, leading me to believe that a repeat of the 1960s incident could happen.” But, with the assistance of SCSJ, the family was able to reach consensus to hold the land in an LLC, “something so important for the survival of our family interests and which would not have happened without the help extended to our family.”
