Progress report for LNE25-490
Project Information
120 farmers on 10,000 acres attend the workshops, resulting in increased awareness of heirs property.
25 farmers on 2,500 acres will consult with an attorney resulting in creation of estate planning documents that will prevent creation of heirs property. The result of this and other project impacts will be 2,500 more acres of farmland available for agriculture in the state by clearing title.
75 farmers on 7,500 acres will complete the heirs property survey, resulting in membership in the heirs property network.
These steps will make 2,500 more acres of farmland available for agriculture in the state by clearing title.
Project Focus
The West Virginia University College of Law and West Virginia Cooperative Extension engage with the farm community in West Virginia on a variety of issues. A particularly difficult issued raised by producers is heirs property. Heirs property is property inherited by multiple owners and held as tenants in common. With tenants in common property, no one owner can farm or timber the property without the consent of all other owners. Particularly as the number of owners multiply or disagreements arise between the owners, farming the property becomes difficult or impossible. Using the farm as collateral for loans or receiving state or federal program benefits are also hindered. Heirs property has been characterized as "dead capital" (Deaton 2007). Land in heirs also amounts to tenuous land tenure, preventing investment in sustainable farm practices. West Virginia, as the only state lying completely within Appalachia, contains a large number of heirs property parcels. However, no one knows how much, where, or how tangled the title to the property remains. Nor does any data exist on the owners of heirs property and their feelings towards or desires with the land.
Farmers in West Virginia need to clear and consolidate title to their farms in order to unlock the dead capital. Unlocking the land allows more access to farmland, and more sustainable and productive use of the land. In addition producers need to know how to prevent heirs property from occurring. More education and training in the tools to prevent and resolve farms held as heirs property in West Virginia is needed.
Solution and Approach
This project builds on the general education on heirs property being conducted in the state by providing state-specific tools to prevent and resolve heirs property in the state. A project advisory committee consisting of a diverse group of farmers with deep networks in the farming community will help connect the service providers with owners of farmland in heirs in the state. The training will provide knowledge on the tools that farmers need to prevent heirs property from occurring in the future and resolve existing heirs property issues. Prevention consists of estate and business planning tools, with a focus on either preventing multiple owners of farmland or providing business or other agreements to govern agricultural production on the land. The more difficult task of resolving heirs property issues is addressed through training on building family trees and navigating record rooms and tax offices.
To address another issue, the project trains attorneys on heirs property issues to provide ready access to competent professional assistance. Like many rural areas, West Virginia is a legal desert. Access to attorneys with knowledge on heirs property is particularly lacking.
Research
The survey data will more clearly define the extent of heirs’ property issues impacting farmland across the state of West Virginia. The research will be the first to focus on farmland, to identify particular parcels of farmland as heirs property, and to collect details on the particular characteristics of the heirs property issues and the owners of the farmland.
2025
A survey was developed and will be submitted to IRB in early 2026. Information gathered from the survey and producer interviews will help guide the research.
2025
No research was conducted in 2025, primarily due to other obligations of the principal investigator. However, the draft survey was developed and will be submitted to IRB in January, 2026. In addition, the project was introduced to producers and attorneys through presentations at several venues in 2025. Participants were advised and the project and urged to contact the principal investigator if they were involved in heirs property. Attorneys were similarly advised to contact the principal investigator if interested. Several producers have indicated interest. Presentations were made at: Mid-Atlantic Agricultural and Natural Resource Law Conference October 28, 2025, as well as Estate and Transition Planning Workshops on October 23, October 29, November 12, November 13, and December 4.
Research will begin in earnest and outreach to producers and attorneys will increased in early 2026. Presentations will be made at 18 dinner meetings across the state in January of 2026. The project timeline will not be significantly affected.
Education
2025
The educational approach remains the same and outreach to producers was conducted in 2025. Producers indicate high interest in the project, indicating that heirs property is a significant issue across the state.
Milestones
- Engagement: May 15, 2025-December 31, 2025. 200 farmers learn about the heirs property project through announcements and short presentations at various venues. Farmers that own a farm and either have heirs property issues or anticipate heirs property issues will be further engaged via telephone and email to give feedback on suggested publications and training, review proposed curriculum and publications, and evaluate plans for education. Status: In Progress. Start of engagement was delayed by commitments on another project, but the engagement is progressing well and will be completed this spring. Milestone 2 will progress simultaneously with milestone 1. Accomplishments: Made announcements at a Continuing Legal Education Conference on October 28, and short presentations at Farm Transition Workshops on October 23, 29, November 12, 13, and December 4, 2025. Made short presentations at 10 dinner meetings during the weeks of January 12 and January 19, 2026. Over 800 producers have learned about the project therough these presentations. Names of several producers have been collected, but telephone and email interviews have not begun.
- Learning: December 31, 2025-September 1, 2026. The project team will develop curriculum around estate planning tools and methods specific to West Virginia. Status: In Progress. Accomplishments: The project team has informally discussed curriculum development in January 2026. Formal curriculum development will begin in February 2026. Milestone 3 is still on target for delivery beginning in November 2026.
- Learning: November 1, 2026-March 31, 2026; November 1, 2027-March 3, 2028. Regional workshops will be held, disseminating the curriculum developed to a statewide audience. 100 individuals representing 10,000 acres will attend these workshops. 6 workshops will be held per year, during years 2 and 3, for 12 total workshops.
- Learning: November 1, 2027-May 31, 2028. Train-the-trainer workshops will be held for extension agents, agriculture service providers, bankers, and other financial service providers. 50 individuals will attend this workshop.
- Evaluation: May 15, 2025-May 15, 2026.The project team will develop a survey of landowners to determine the location, nature, and extent of heirs property in West Virginia, and the steps the landowners are taking to prevent and resolve heirs property. 75 farmers on 7,500 acres will complete the heirs' property survey
- Engagement and Evaluation: November 1, 2026-March 31, 2028. The project team will create an heirs property network where questions regarding these title issues can be addressed by legal professionals.
- Learning:Fall 2026. A half-day continuing legal education workshop will be provided to educate attorneys on legal issues currently facing landowners in West Virginia, utilizing feedback from the landowner education sessions and surveys. Participating attorneys will form the Heirs Property Legal Network.
- Engagement and Evaluation January 1, 2027-May 1, 2028: Landowner and attorney participants will be surveyed via email and telephone to determine whether landowners are connecting with knowledgeable attorneys to prevent and resolve heirs property issues.
- Education and Evaluation: May 1, 2028-July1, 2028: Survey results will be compiled and analyzed. The existing literature will be used as a background and a draft research paper developed analyzing the data.
- Engagement and Evaluation: July 1 ,2028: The research paper will be distributed to all participants for feedback and evaluation.