H.R. 1640 — HEIRS Act of 2025

This section authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a grant program for states, units of general local government, territories, and Tribal governments that have adopted or later adopt the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act or a substantially equivalent law. Recipients must use the funds to cover residents’ costs of establishing property ownership or settling estates, including title reports, surveys, estate planning, heirs searches, recording fees, and legal expenses. The program terminates 7 years after enactment.

This section authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award annual grants to HUD-approved housing counseling agencies, qualifying nonprofits, and legal services clinics operated by institutions of higher education for housing counseling, legal assistance, and financial assistance to clear title and retain homes for owners of heirs’ property. The program terminates 7 years after enactment.

This section requires nonprofit organizations receiving housing counseling funds to explain heirs’ property, its risks, and avoidance methods to consumers, and to inform them of all available estate planning and title clearing options, including those under sections 2 and 3 of the Heirs Estate Inheritance Resolution and Succession Act of 2025. It directs the Secretary to ensure these organizations can refer consumers to mission-driven nonprofits and higher education legal clinics for title clearing and estate planning, and defines heirs’ property as residential property that passed by intestacy and is held by two or more heirs as tenants in common.