Heirs Property and the Insurance Crisis  

Climate change is making it increasingly difficult to find and afford insurance, particularly for Black families across the Gulf South. For as long as home insurance has existed, cost, discrimination and disproportionate exposure to physical risks have all made it more expensive and less available for Black families. But for too many families, there is a different reason: they can’t prove they own the property in the first place. 

I was born and raised in rural South Louisiana, a place where my family, like many across America, understands this dilemma firsthand. My great, great-grandfather built a farmhouse meant to be a home for whoever in our family needed one. The land and house have been passed down from generation to generation. But this family property has no official title. This land is referred to as heirs property, and it is a growing problem across the Gulf South. 

Heirs property, land passed down without official title, represents approximately 6.8 million acres worth $47.3 billion, all sitting in legal limbo across the United States. That’s 579,000 parcels of land, affecting hundreds of thousands of families who struggle to prove ownership in order to insure them. As climate risks grow, this legal challenge locks these families out of the one thing that could protect them from losing everything.  If you don’t have title to land, it can be difficult or impossible to insure it or get federal disaster aid. Legislative changes, however, could unlock hundreds of millions in insurance and disaster relief. 

Why Black communities are the most affected

Black communities have long borne the brunt of climate driven disasters because of systemic housing discrimination. Predominantly Black neighborhoods are twice as likely to flood as predominantly white ones. Decades of redlining pushed Black families into flood-prone areas and neighborhoods with fewer infrastructure investments. And without insurance, families bear the full financial weight when disaster hits. And because most Black homeowners’ wealth is tied to their homes, this will have far-reaching effects on the racial wealth gap.

Black families also disproportionately  own heirs property, land passed down without a clear, formal title, due to a range of causes: 

• The legacy of explicit exclusion from legal systems – During the Jim Crow era and well before, Black Americans were systemically locked out of legal institutions, making it challenging or impossible to obtain a will, a crucial tool for transferring official ownership. Even with a will, completing probate, the legal process that administers wills, was rarely an option if courts saw you as less of a human. So families passed property down informally with family agreements and verbal understandings. Today, recent data shows that nearly 70% of Black homeowners over 50 don’t have a will or trust compared to 35% of white homeowners. 
• Earned distrust and cultural practices – With a legal system mired in decades of discrimination and the loss of the majority of Black land ownership, between 1910 and 1997, Black families lost about 90% of their farmland, dropping from 16 – 19 million acres to less than 3 acres, a loss equivalent to hundreds of billions of dollars. That distrust of the legal system is earned, and it means fewer Black families historically use formal estate planning tools. Some communities developed their own ways of handling property succession, with informal agreements or family understandings. These work within the community but don’t translate to legal documentation that banks and insurance companies accept. 
• Economic barriers – Even with access to legal services, clearing a title and going through probate all costs money. For families with limited resources due to generations of systemic discrimination, these costs remain a barrier.

Why heirs property can’t get coverage 

Heirs property owners often face insurance challenges because they may not have the  right paperwork to prove they are the owner of the home or property.

• Challenges in obtaining a policy – Insurance insurance companies typically accept a limited form of proof of ownership, making many heirs owners effectively ineligible. Insurance companies cancel existing policies when they find out the original owner has died or delay or freeze payments until the heirs sort out ownership paperwork.
• Insufficient coverage and excessive costs – Even if they can get a policy, policyholders may only be able to get more expensive coverage for a rental property or reclassify an occupied home as vacant due to ownership confusion. 
• Difficulty with claims– Even when heirs have been paying for insurance, they can be blocked from filing a claim or may receive a check to someone who’s already passed away or “to the estate.” Misclassification as a “vacant” property can also lead to an automatic claim denial. Fixing this can require a complex probate process or signature from every heir before repairs can begin. 

The lack of insurance also has broader implications. If families want to sell the property, the lack of title and the inability to obtain insurance present another barrier, turning it into “dead capital.” What should be a family asset becomes financially unusable. 

Disaster aid is also impacted. Research from the National Consumer Law Center and JP Morgan found that unclear titles bar heirs property from home repair grants and loans, slowing down recovery. After Hurricane Katrina, approximately 20,000 FEMA applications were denied because of title issues. Thousands of families could not access federal disaster assistance because they could not prove ownership of their home. 

So, what can we do about this? 

Solutions don’t require rocket science. While heirs’ owners lack titles, they often have an array of other documents to demonstrate ownership. Simply expanding the types of documents accepted changes can unlock hundreds of millions in disaster aid. This solution also points the way to reforms that can work for home insurance. 

In 2021, FEMA reformed its Individual Households Program to accept a wider range of documents for disaster aid. The new process still required multiple documents or a self- certification process, but owners can provide documents such as an affidavit of heirship with certain requirements or receipts for major repairs or maintenance five years before the disaster. In 2022, with the new process in place, FEMA distributed $350 million in disaster assistance to heirs property owners. 

U.S. Representatives Lizzie Flecter (D-Tex.) and Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) also recently introduced a legislative package, known as the HEIR Act and the HEIRS Act, to allow homeowners to use a variety of documents to prove ownership to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for disaster recovery assistance. While these bills haven’t passed yet, they have bipartisan support, including from Rep. Byron Doanlds (R-Fla.) As changes to disaster aid processes show what is possible, states should adopt similar legislation, requiring private home insurers to accept a wider range of documents. 

The home insurance industry should follow suit. If federal agencies can recognize the reality of how Black families hold property, there’s no justification for private insurers to maintain rigid documentation requirements that effectively deny coverage to those who need it most. 

A safe space turned into a legal nightmare

My family’s farmhouse was built to be a safe haven for a family member who may need a place to stay. It’s the house where generations of kids have been raised and brought up. Where the neighborhood kids could bring quarters to the front door and, in turn, get a sweet treat. Surely, our elders did the right thing, and it’s time we do the right thing by making sure families like mine can keep what they built in the family. 

Heirs property sits at the intersection of historical discrimination, insurance industry practices, and legal technicalities. The result is that thousands of families, disproportionately Black families, own homes they can’t protect. They’re one disaster away from losing everything, with no safety net to catch them. This is a crisis rooted in generations of systemic racism, and it’s getting worse as climate change makes insurance more scarce and expensive.

The families own their homes. They maintain them. These homes are theirs, and they deserve protection. It’s time for the legal system, disaster aid programs, and the insurance industry to recognize what’s already true.