Family Estate-Land-Multiple Heirs

[ndbarnes1970]

The land is located in Jarrat VA

My great great grandfather left land to his four living grandchildren (my great grandmother and her siblings) after he passed which is now a total of 46 acres of land in Virginia. The way that it is setup is that when an heir passes their percentage is passed down to their living children, so currently my mother and two uncles are three of roughly 28 heirs. One of which is currently paying the taxes and has been since before my mother and uncles were even aware that they were heirs. (Although I was told by the county that the fact that they are do not give them ownership of the land). My question is when I become an heir (since it is obvious that none of the current heirs plan to do anything with the land) how can I force a meeting to discuss what to do with it? And if there are people who are not interested in doing something with it is there a way the majority can move forward without their consent or that those people can be bought out?

 

[Zigner]

What a MESS your ancestors created. It's a forgone conclusion that you WILL need an attorney to assist you - it's way beyond an internet forum.

 

[Zigner]

Another thought: You DO realize that anyone can leave their portion of the land to anyone they wish, right?

 

[LdiJ]

The land is located in Jarrat VA

My great great grandfather left land to his four living grandchildren (my great grandmother and her siblings) after he passed which is now a total of 46 acres of land in Virginia. The way that it is setup is that when an heir passes their percentage is passed down to their living children, so currently my mother and two uncles are three of roughly 28 heirs. One of which is currently paying the taxes and has been since before my mother and uncles were even aware that they were heirs. (Although I was told by the county that the fact that they are do not give them ownership of the land). My question is when I become an heir (since it is obvious that none of the current heirs plan to do anything with the land) how can I force a meeting to discuss what to do with it? And if there are people who are not interested in doing something with it is there a way the majority can move forward without their consent or that those people can be bought out?

I agree with Zig that you will likely need an attorney to help sort it out, but I will give you some general information. It is certainly ok to offer to buy out other heirs. It is also certainly ok to buy out any heir that agrees to be bought out. There is unlikely to be any way to force an heir to be bought out.

With 28 heirs and only 46 acres that is about 1.64 acres apiece. Unless the acreage is in a very trendy area that isn't going to give any of the heirs much, at this point in time. Some of them might very well be willing to be bought out.