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Stakeholders urge probate modernization, legal aid and preservation funding at heirs-property hearing
Summary
A multi-stakeholder hearing on heirs property and prolonged probate produced calls for probate modernization (triage case management, temporary preservation authority), improved transfer-on-death deed processing, legal aid and title-clearance funding, and targeted preservation financing for historic towns where hundreds of properties sit vacant or deteriorating.
The Committee on Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure and Planning convened a lengthy multi-stakeholder hearing on heirs property, prolonged probate, and vacant and abandoned historic properties across the U.S. Virgin Islands.
National and local experts, judges, government officials and nonprofit leaders testified that heirs property — land held by multiple family members as undivided fractional interests after a death without estate planning — has produced long-term title fragmentation that blocks repairs, insurance, permitting and financing. Lance George of the Housing Assistance Council called heirs property “structurally rooted” and urged cross-sector solutions, while attorney Karabo Malloy described how probate-generated tenancy-in-common arrangements multiply fractional shares across generations and can lead to predatory partition-by-sale.
Judge Jessica Gallivan told the committee the Superior Court handled roughly 802 active probate matters as of the close of fiscal year 2025 and acknowledged cases…
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