Clearing up heirs’ property ownership in South Carolina is an arduous and costly process that could also result in higher property taxes — until a new state law was passed this year.
It’s uncommon to see tax legislation move through the Statehouse with bipartisan support and unanimous votes in the House and Senate, but that’s what happened with the “Heirs’ Property Tax Relief Act” sponsored by Rep. Kathy Landing, R-Mount Pleasant, and encouraged by East Cooper settlement community leaders and housing advocates.
Heirs’ properties have unclear ownership, often due to being passed down through families for generations without going through probate and the legal process of updating the title. A long-dead relative’s name might be on the deed of a property owned collectively by all of the relative’s descendants.
Landing, a certified financial planner for 30 years, said a clear property title is a key to building generational wealth, but the fear of sharply increased property tax bills had been a deterrent to resolving ownership issues.
“I think it’s a pretty simple answer,” she said. “If we simply would … let the land transfer to the current generation without that triggering a reassessment.”
That’s what the Heirs’ Property Tax Relief Act did. The law says that when a property’s ownership is transferred “solely for the purpose of clearing or consolidating title to heirs’ property among qualified family members” that won’t trigger a reassessment, though an application for the exemption must be filed with the county assessor.
“What we have is an example of how, when people come together, good things happen,” said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, a co-sponsor of the legislation.
Reassessment is when the taxable value of a property is updated, sometimes with a dramatic property tax impact, and in South Carolina that can be initiated by a change in ownership. Clearing the title to an heirs’ property doesn’t change who owns the property, but rather, records who the current owners are.
“To us, this was a priority bill because it removed a barrier of affordability facing so many heirs’ owners,” said Nancy Lee, executive director of Habitat for Humanity South Carolina. “This new law removes a disincentive that previously existed in our state where families had to risk being unable to afford property taxes just to clear a title for land, or a home, that they rightfully owned.”
South Carolina heirs’ properties are often owned by Black families whose ancestors bought land after the Civil War, when they were no longer enslaved. Many such properties can be found in what are known as settlement communities, such as Snowden and Phillips and 10-Mile in the East Cooper area.
Sunlight illuminates the homes in the unincorporated Snowden community, along the marsh by Foster Creek Thursday, July 9, 2026. The Long Point subdivision sits in the background, in Mount Pleasant.
Gavin McIntyre/Staff
“I live in Snowden and we still have properties in dead peoples’ names and people living on (the properties),” said Freddie Jenkins, president of the African American Settlement Historic Commission. “A lot of people just let it stay the way it is.”
But without clear ownership a property can’t be borrowed against or built upon or sold. It’s common for people living on heirs’ properties to have trailer homes as a result of being unable to obtain construction loans or mortgages; trailer homes are typically financed and taxed like automobiles.
“You can’t do anything with heirs’ property but farm and maybe put a mobile home on it,” said Landing.
Heirs’ property risks
With unclear ownership, heirs’ property owners might not get paid if the government takes land for a road project or other public purpose. They could face challenges accessing disaster recovery assistance after a hurricane or flood and could be unable to get home insurance if there’s a home on the property. Also heirs’ property owners face challenges that others do not in delinquent tax sales.
It’s an issue in many cities and states. Some major cities, such as Philadelphia, see heirs’ property as a housing affordability issue and have initiated programs to help people clear what are referred to in Philadelphia as “tangled titles.”
Landing said the legislation she sponsored to address the property tax issue began when she met with settlement community leaders in the boardroom of a bank in Mount Pleasant.
“We sat down with Kathy and told her some of the issues in her district that needed to be addressed,” said Jenkins.
Richard Habersham, leader of the Phillips community, said heirs’ property was long seen as a way to keep land in the family, to have a place descendants could return to live.
However, communal but unofficial property ownership has resulted in many properties being lost through tax sales or partition sales — when one heir decides they want their share and force a sale.
Resolving heirs’ property title issues can mean tracing every descendant of the original owner and hiring lawyers. For example, in 2019 the great-great-great grandchildren and other descendants of Cain Bryan, who had bought land in the East Cooper area in 1875, cleared up the title and sold 14 acres after years of research and court rulings.
There were 144 heirs involved, each with a fractional ownership of the property determined by the family tree.
Sales of land that used to be heirs’ property would not be changed by the new tax law. Relief would only be for relatives addressing title issues.
“I’m just glad we could get it across the finish line,” said Rep. Michael Rivers Sr., D-Beaufort. “It’s an excellent first start.”
A bill that failed
While lawmakers approved and the governor signed the Heirs’ Property Tax Relief Act, a bill aimed at helping heirs’ property owners in delinquent tax sales didn’t make it out of committee in the House or Senate.
The problem that legislation aimed to address was the disparate way heirs’ property owners are treated in some counties if the property goes to a delinquent tax sale. In those sales, property owners have a year to reclaim their land or home by paying what was owed, and if they don’t then it goes to the highest bidder — but some counties won’t let heirs’ pay off the debt because it’s not clear they’re an owner.
The result is that in counties with that practice, an heirs’ property is likely lost forever if it goes into a delinquent tax sale, unlike other properties in the same situation. In Dorchester County a group of relatives lost an heirs’ property that way, over a $112 tax bill, then challenged the county’s policies and lost after an eight-year court fight.
The state legislation that didn’t make it out of committee would have allowed anyone to pay off the debt during the one-year redemption period following a delinquent tax auction, without changing the ownership.