Gainesville, Florida, February 13, 2023 – Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc. (TRLS) announced today that it has been awarded $75,000 in funding from Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLBank Atlanta), one of the 11 district banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
The award is through the FHLBank Atlanta Heirs’ Property Prevention and Resolution Grant Initiative, announced last August. Funding through this initiative was made available to organizations that submitted pilot initiatives during the Heirs’ Property Prevention and Resolution Funders’ Forum, held on December 2, 2021.
“We are grateful to FHLBank Atlanta for their partnership and for devoting the time, energy, and resources necessary to help address the many issues posed by heirs’ property,” said Donna S. MacRae, Deputy Director of TRLS. “Heirs’ property has a significant negative impact across North Florida and this award will help provide much needed resolution and relief for families and communities that are currently unable to leverage the value in homes affected by an encumbered title.”
Kirk Malmberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of FHLBank Atlanta, congratulated TRLS on being selected for an award. “We are pleased to offer this award and we commend Three Rivers Legal Services for working to solve and prevent issues associated with heirs’ property,” said Malmberg.
Arthur Fleming, FHLBank Atlanta’s Senior Vice President and Director of Community Investment Services, joined in congratulating TRLS and noted that aside from resolving heirs’ property issues, the goal of the initiative is to raise awareness among state and local governments, developers, and other organizations. “The funding we are providing to Three Rivers Legal Services will not only help provide tangible relief to families and communities impacted by heirs’ property, it will also help bring more attention to this issue and hopefully spur additional involvement from other key stakeholders that have a vested interest in resolving and preventing heirs’ property,” said Fleming.
Heirs’ property occurs when a real property owner dies without a will that designates a successor owner, or without a recorded deed. It also occurs when property is left to multiple beneficiaries, resulting in a fractured or tangled title that is unmarketable and, if left unresolved, prevents the ability to sell, collateralize, improve, or otherwise transfer the property. Heirs’ property is a barrier to the accumulation of generational wealth, leads to neighborhood blight, and is a pervasive issue that disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minority, low-wealth, and distressed urban
and rural communities.
TRLS will use the award to file probate actions on behalf of heirs’ property “homeowners” to establish legal ownership of the properties. The award will also enable TRLS to prevent future heirs’ property situations by providing estate planning services to clients residing in North Florida.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
FHLBank Atlanta offers competitively-priced financing, community development grants, and other banking services to help member financial institutions make affordable home mortgages and provide economic development credit to neighborhoods and communities. The Bank’s member are commercial banks, credit unions, savings institutions, community development financial institutions, and insurance companies located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. FHLBank Atlanta is one of 11 district banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
Since 1990, the FHLBanks have awarded approximately $7.3 billion in Affordable Housing Program funds, assisting more than one million households.
