New Article: Black Landowners Will Benefit From New Funding to Prevent Land Loss

New Article: Lizzie Presser, Black Landowners Will Benefit From New Funding to Prevent Land Loss, ProPublica, Oct. 9, 2020.

Mitchell was the principal drafter of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which aims to protect families with heirs’ property from losing land in predatory or involuntary partition actions. In North Carolina, where the bill has not passed, ProPublica reported on cases in which corporations had bought shares of heirs’ property and then forced sales through the courts against the wishes of the families. The legislation Mitchell helped draft gives families the first option to buy the land if a court orders an auction, among other protections. Since 2010, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act has been enacted into law in 17 states and been introduced in several more.