I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1640
To establish a grant program for States that adopt the Uniform Partition
of Heirs Property Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Ms. W
ILLIAMSof Georgia (for herself, Mrs. FLETCHER, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr.
D
ONALDS, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. MFUME, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. TLAIB) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services
A BILL
To establish a grant program for States that adopt the
Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heirs Estate Inherit-4
ance Resolution and Succession Act of 2025’’ or the 5
‘‘HEIRS Act of 2025’’. 6
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 1640 IH
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR ELIGIBLE ENTITIES THAT ADOPT THE 1
UNIFORM PARTITION OF HEIRS PROPERTY 2
ACT. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 4
Urban Development shall, not later than 1 year after the 5
date of the enactment of this section, establish a grant 6
program that provides amounts to eligible entities that— 7
(1) before the date of the enactment of this sec-8
tion, had enacted or adopted the Uniform Partition 9
of Heirs Property Act as approved and rec-10
ommended for enactment in all the States by the 11
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform 12
State Laws in 2010 or a similar law that the Sec-13
retary determines is a substantial equivalent; and 14
(2) on or after the date of the enactment of this 15
section, enact or adopt the Uniform Partition of 16
Heirs Property Act as approved and recommended 17
for enactment in all the States by the National Con-18
ference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 19
2010 or a similar law that the Secretary determines 20
is a substantial equivalent. 21
(b) U
SE OFAMOUNTS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each eligible entity that re-23
ceives amounts under this section shall use such 24
amounts to assist residents of such eligible entity 25
with bona fide expenses relating to establishing and 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 1640 IH
documenting property ownership rights or settling a 1
decedent’s estate, including fees and costs related to 2
obtaining title reports and title abstracts, copies of 3
public records, land surveys, estate planning, heirs 4
search or tracing services, recording and filing fees, 5
notary fees, and legal fees and expenses. 6
(2) L
AYERING OF ASSISTANCE .—An eligible en-7
tity that receives amounts under this section may 8
use such amounts to assist residents of such State 9
who are receiving assistance from other sources, in-10
cluding Federal, State, local, private, public, and 11
nonprofit sources. 12
(c) R
EGULATIONS ANDCRITERIA FORSELECTION.— 13
The Secretary shall, not later than 1 year after the date 14
of the enactment of this section, issue a rule to carry out 15
this section, that includes criteria for the selection of re-16
cipients. 17
(d) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 19
appropriated to the Secretary of Housing and Urban 20
Development $30,000,000 each of year fiscal years 21
2026 through 2036 to carry out this section. 22
(2) A
VAILABILITY.—Any amounts appropriated 23
under this subsection shall remain available until ex-24
pended. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 1640 IH
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1
(1) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 2
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 3
(2) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-4
ty’’ means a ‘‘State’’ and a ‘‘unit of general local 5
government’’ as such terms are defined in section 6
102 of title 1 of the Housing and Community Devel-7
opment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302) a territory, 8
or a Tribal government. 9
SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE RELATING TO 10
HEIRS’ PROPERTY RESOLUTION. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 12
Urban Development shall carry out a program under this 13
section to provide grants each year to eligible entities to 14
use to provide housing counseling, legal assistance, and 15
financial assistance related to title clearing and home re-16
tention efforts for owners of heirs’ property. 17
(b) A
WARDS.—The Secretary shall consider the fol-18
lowing when awarding grants under this section: 19
(1) Whether the eligible entity has a proven 20
track record of— 21
(A) providing assistance to homeowners; 22
(B) targeting services to minority and low- 23
and moderate-income persons; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 1640 IH
(C) providing services in neighborhoods 1
that have a high concentrations of minority per-2
sons or low- and moderate-income persons. 3
(2) Whether the eligible entity has planned or 4
existing partnerships with other eligible entities. 5
(3) Whether the eligible entity is located in an 6
area with a high number of owners of heirs’ prop-7
erty, as determined by the Secretary. 8
(c) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 9
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary, for grants 10
under this section, $10,000,000 in each of fiscal years 11
2026 through 2030. 12
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 13
following definitions shall apply: 14
(1) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-15
ty’’ means— 16
(A) a HUD approved housing counseling 17
agency; 18
(B) a legal services clinics operated by an 19
institute of higher education; or 20
(C) a qualifiying nonprofit. 21
(2) H
EIRS’ PROPERTY.—The term ‘‘heirs’ prop-22
erty’’ means residential property for which title 23
passed by operation of law through intestacy and is 24
held by two or more heirs as tenants in common. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 1640 IH
(3) HUD APPROVED HOUSING COUNSELING 1
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘HUD approved housing coun-2
seling agency’’ means a housing counseling agency 3
found eligible to receive assistance by the Depart-4
ment of Housing and Urban Development under sec-5
tion 106(a)(2) of the Housing and Urban Develop-6
ment Act of 1968. 7
(4) L
OW- AND MODERATE-INCOME PERSONS.— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘low- and 9
moderate-income persons’’ means a person 10
whose household income does not exceed 120 11
percent of the median income for the area, as 12
determined by the Secretary, within which— 13
(i) the heirs’ property which respect to 14
which the homeowner is seeking assistance 15
is located; or 16
(ii) the place of residence of the home-17
owner is located. 18
(B) E
XCEPTION.—If the area described in 19
subparagraph (A) is a high-cost area, as deter-20
mined by the Secretary, the term ‘‘low- and 21
moderate-income persons’’ means a homeowner 22
whose household income does not exceed 140 23
percent of the median income for the area. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 1640 IH
(5) QUALIFYING NONPROFIT .—The term 1
‘‘qualifying nonprofit’’ means a nonprofit, mission- 2
driven entity that, as determined by the Secretary— 3
(A) has a track record of providing assist-4
ance to homeowners; 5
(B) targets services to minority and low- 6
and moderate-income persons; or 7
(C) provides services in neighborhoods that 8
have high concentrations of minority persons 9
and low- and moderate-income persons. 10
(6) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 11
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 12
SEC. 4. HEIRS’ PROPERTY HOUSING COUNSELING. 13
Section 106(g) of the Housing and Urban Develop-14
ment Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x(g)) is amended by 15
adding at the end the following new paragraph: 16
‘‘(6) C
OUNSELING WITH RESPECT TO HEIRS ’ 17
PROPERTY.— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Any nonprofit organi-19
zation that receives amounts under this section 20
shall, when providing homeownership counseling 21
services to consumers— 22
‘‘(i) explain to such consumer what 23
heirs’ property is, the risks associated with 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•HR 1640 IH
heirs’ property, and how to avoid heirs’ 1
property issues; and 2
‘‘(ii) inform consumers of all available 3
estate planning and title clearing options, 4
assistance, and services, including those of-5
fered under sections 2 and 3 of the Heirs 6
Estate Inheritance Resolution and Succes-7
sion Act of 2025. 8
‘‘(B) R
EFERRAL.—The Secretary shall en-9
sure that each nonprofit organization that re-10
ceives amounts under this section knows how to 11
refer consumers, where appropriate, to mission- 12
driven nonprofit organizations and legal services 13
clinics operated by institutes of higher edu-14
cation that are capable of assisting a consumer 15
to clear title and with general estate planning. 16
‘‘(C) H
EIRS’ PROPERTY.—The term ‘heirs’ 17
property’ means residential property for which 18
title passed by operation of law through intes-19
tacy and is held by two or more heirs as ten-20
ants in common.’’. 21
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1640.IH H1640
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB