Center for Heirs' Property Preservation

Legal services: the Center provided legal education and direct legal services, which resulted in the following: quantitatively, the Center conducted 38 (proposed 44) education seminars on Heirs' Property issues and resolution and forestland management which increased knowledge among 681 (proposed 1,100) landowners, resulting in 638 (proposed 500) landowners coming into the Center for additional information and help. The Center accepted 76 full clients with 117 pending clients and resolved 35 titles on land with a tax-assessed value of slightly over $3.4m. Center attorneys and volunteers also drafted 281 simple wills to help prevent the growth of Heirs' property.heirs' Property landowner story: family clears title of six properties in hampton county, south carolinaby clearing the title of six (6) properties, with a tax-assessed value over $125,000, the family has successfully preserved their land. By attending an Heirs' Property seminar in hampton county, the family sought out our services to assist with the estate of their parent, parent did not have a last will and testament and all five (5) children had rights to inherit the Property in equal shares. Understanding the how Heirs' Property is created and the risk of holding Property as tenants in common, the heirs established a private family agreement that reduced risk of creating of Heirs' Property by agreeing the divide the Property amongst themselves.

Outreach: the outreach department completed 52 presentations to inform participants about chpp's services reaching 1,820 attendees. Outreach staff held 38 information tables to promote chpp reaching 2,661 people in their communities. Staff also completed three (3) focus groups in expansion counties to learn more about local needs and issues relevant to Heirs' Property, land management and forestry. These focused groups reached a total of 15 landowners. On october 7 -8, 2022, chpp held its 7th annual rural and limited resource landowner symposium at the opportunity Center in north charleston. Over 230 people registered to attend this hybrid event. This year, the keynote address was delivered by three (3) of our very own landowners: joe hamilton, yvonne knight-carter and eleanor-cooper brown - all of whom have been sc tree farmers of the year. Participants were able to learn about starting a forestry business and choosing the best seedlings for their land. Informative panels focused on estate planning, meeting the berkeley county probate judge and landowner and partner perspectives on the sustainable forest management process. Chpp also held a graduation where 12 new woodland community advocates graduated. During the first quarter of 2022, the outreach department implemented inaugural regional advisory committees using a new approach to our outreach/education and service delivery model that categorizes our 22-county service area into four regions: santee, combahee, pee dee and inland. The creation of these advisory committees is to help us facilitate discussion and learn from community members what is needed to best serve our constituency throughout the service area and to achieve the strategic priorities of our 2022 strategic expansion plan to increase chpp's service area to 29 counties. Regional advisory committees are meant to support our communication/outreach efforts to get more people to know about our services. Each region will have a dedicated attorney, outreach liaison and forester assigned to each. As we anticipate continued expansion, we understand the need to maintain continuity and present a consistent "face" for each region by way of committed staff who will be a consistent presence in the communities we seek to serve. Committee members met quarterly and included a probate judge, chamber of commerce economic development director, naacp president, county council members, business owners, wcas and landowners.

Sustainable forestry: the Center provided historically under-served landowners (hulos) with forestry education, technical assistance and helped them access: financial assistance, expert partners, usda programs and connected them to markets to sell their timber products, which resulted in the following:*eighteen (18) of the proposed educational workshops were conducted at which 314 of the projected 100 individuals learned the importance of sustainably managing their family forests for maximum profit. *181 of the projected 65 hulos received technical assistance from forestry experts. *38 landowners became interested in starting forestry enterprises. *24 hulos received a total of $353,332 in financial assistance from us department of agriculture for natural resources conservation service (usda/nrcs) cost-share programs to implement their forest management plans.the forestry intakes for 2022 remained stable; however, one-on-one technical assistance provided increased significantly. Forestry landowner storyforester david bourgeois and tree farmer anthony c. williams were featured in the minority landowner magazine's 2022 farmers of the year issue. Williams owns nearly 67 acres of land in orangeburg county, sc with approximately 37 acres that were deemed abandoned farm fields. His mission was to ensure that the next generation in his family was situated to receive the land. Williams consulted with chpp for guidance. Chpp foresters and the natural resources conservation service (nrcs) worked with mr. williams to replant areas that were cutover, including planting trees within his abandoned farmland. Chpp aims to assist landowners in creating a land use management pathway. These opportunities are great ways for our landowners and forestry team to collaborate in ensuring sustainable use of family land. Forestry youth engagementon october 24 and 25, forester james williams volunteered with over 150 fourth graders at wood magic in harbison state forest with the south carolina forestry commission. James oversaw leading the "gifts of the forest" station where he taught the students about biomass, erosion, sustainable forest management, and careers in forestry.after each lesson james led the students in a group activity called "the web of life" in which the students had to use the lessons they learned about forestry to connect the different pieces of the forestry ecosystem together. The students really enjoyed working together to "capture" james in their web.after the event beth foley, assistant environmental education coordinator at the south carolina forestry commission, submitted a glowing review of chpps' engagement and educational leadership. Chpp has begun to focus on working with the youth to get them excited about forestry, so seeds are planted, with hopes, they will eventually work in the forestry/environmental science field.

Mobile basin Heirs' Property support initiative: chpp began its expansion (or replication model) work with Mississippi Center for justice (mcj) in 2021 through the mobile basin Heirs' Property support initiative (mbhpsi), a partnership with world wildlife fund and kimberly clark. Mbhpsi enabled mcj to provide legal services to help landowners resolve Heirs' Property issues. Chpp partnered with the Mississippi association of cooperatives (mac) to provide forestry technical assistance. Mcj and mac have developed a mutual referral system. With support from chpp, the accomplishments achieved by mcj and mac are as follows.mcj: the following outcomes were achieved by mcj and supported by way of chpp technical assistance via consultation, biweekly meetings between attorney project director andrea barnes and chpp attorney/c.o.o. Josh f. walden, and by form sharing and modeling of best practices. *18 of the projected 7 legal education seminars were competed with 5,820 of the projected 210 individuals having increased their knowledge of legal issues relating to hp*8 of the projected 7 community outreach presentations with 417 of the projected 350 individuals having increased their awareness of hp through presentations and other outreach activities *4 of the projected 2 wills clinics were conducted with 14 of the projected 20 persons having wills drafted at wills clinics *140 of the projected 60 intakes were conducted at which hp owners receive advice & counsel with 31 of the projected 15 applicants are accepted as full clients*41 of the projected 13 clients received extended legal services with those 42 working towards clearing title to their family land. *the majority, if not all, of mcj's legal clients have a very hard time affording the costs associated with their respective cases. While they do not pay attorney fees, they are responsible for those associated costs. Through mcj's outreach and engagement with local services providers, and pro bono partners, such as dla piper, they are assisting to provide filing fees, recording fees and title search costs all of which are necessary to move a case forward.mac: the following outcomes were achieved by mac. *4 (four) of the projected 4 (four) education workshops were completed with 52 of the projected 40 hulos having increased their knowledge to operate and manage forestry enterprises*10 of the projected 6 hulos with Heirs' Property and/or estate planning or succession issues were referred to the Mississippi Center for justice. *26 of the projected 30 hulos to obtain a farm tract number. *69 of the projected 70 hulos to apply for cost-share funds *96 of the projected 60 hulos received direct technical assistance involving advice about land-use and/or how to implement conservation practices, etc. *37 of the proposed 30 hulos were assisted with developing forest management plans, mapping, and/or with forestry initiative or forest stewardship council certification.