The Senate Rules and Judiciary Committee on Friday killed a bill to give heirs who own shares of family land in common tenancy one chance to buy out co-owners before a court forces the sale of the property on the open market.
Sponsored by Sen. Louis Hill, the bill would have instituted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act promoted by the Uniform Law Commission; an organization of state governments established in 1892 to address the problems caused by inconsistencies in the laws of different states that impeded commerce and other interstate activities.
Speaking on behalf of the bill, Michael Kerr, legislative director for the national ULC organization and Tom Bolt, chair of the V.I. ULC, testified in support of the bill, arguing it would help keep land in family hands while still allowing property sales to go forward in a timely manner.
Kerr said the ULC model law arose because the national ULC found serious issues in several states with families gradually losing inherited land over time. While the loss of family land crosses all demographic categories, black-owned family farms and family land have been especially hard hit. A century ago, blacks owned over 16 million acres of U.S. land, but over time, that has eroded to less than 6 million, Kerr said.
"The reason people in Maine are interested in this and the reason Nevada has already passed this is whenever you have land passing without a will, you have this situation where a person with a 1/42 share may force a sale of the property without the other owners having a chance to buy him or her out," Kerr said.
A sale can still be forced, but under the proposed law, a 30-day clock would start during which co-tenants would have the right of first refusal to buy out the tenants who want to sell, Kerr said. Co-tenants can negotiate among themselves so some compensate those who pay cash with an in-kind contribution of part of their proportional share of the ownership.
Several senators were dubious about enacting legislation that would slow down or complicate the existing probate court process. Asked if there was any data showing the U.S. Virgin Islands had a problem with family members losing land through probate sales, Kerr said the problem was inherent to the existing law, but that the data that instigated the bill were gathered from other states.
Bolt testified the issue does come up in the territory.
"I’ve got someone right now in Solberg in this situation," Bolt said. "One 80-year old fellow living in the states is going to be forcing the sale of the family property.’
Senate President Ronald Russell challenged Kerr, suggesting the bill would put a burden on those who need to sell their share of land for financial reasons.
"Most of these situations are worked out without adding new procedures," Russell said. "This, to me, adds a burden procedurally, which adds a cost, and unless there is an analysis saying it will address a problem we have here, I don’t think we need this."
Voting to hold the bill in committee "indefinitely" were: Russell, Sens. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, Celestino White, Sammuel Sanes and Usie Richards. Sen. Carlton "Ital" Dowe voted no and Sen. Patrick Sprauve was absent.
