Page 19 - Georgia Forestry - Summer 2019
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ServiinggtTheSouthheeaassttFofroOrve3r030yYears.
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of involuntary land loss among African Americans. Decades of migration, aban- donment or natural disasters would make it tough for any family to hold a legally coherent claim on a small farm or private forest, and it is even more difficult if you lack access to good advice on the law, or harbor a well-founded distrust of the judicial system.
“In minority communities, a lot of people don’t leave a will,” said Alex Harvey, who has worked on heirs-prop- erty issues for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. “They believed that no one could ever take their land because it was in this very complicated legal limbo. They thought it was stable, but this actually wasn’t true. In fact, it’s the antithesis.”
Clarifying Complexity,
Building Trust
Josh Walden, a lawyer in Charleston, described one individual who acquired a 13-acre tract of land in Buford County by deed in 1887. He died in 1910, with 16 children, each of whom had 10 to 12 chil- dren of their own, and now, each of the descendants owns an undivided share. If just one relative wants to sell to an outside party, then the courts may order a sale of the entire property and divide the meager proceeds among the family members. A co-owner who pays for most or all of the taxes on heirs property has no greater rights to the land than a co-owner who pays little or none, and if the taxes went unpaid, then the taxing authority
“The ability to resolve these issues becomes horribly
complex.”
— Josh Walden
www.GeorgiaForestryMagazine.com | 17
