For generations, sheriffs’ sales have been a tool of developers and others to gain control of coastal property, primarily from blacks, where ownership is not clear. The price paid for heirs’ property is often a pittance of its fair market value. A new state law is designed to change that. It grants families a right of first refusal to buy land if another family member who alone can force a sale wants out. It also guarantees families a window of time to do so. There is much at stake.

This year, S.C. lawmakers modeled changes on legislation in North Carolina that has been on the books for several years. Nearly 14 million acres of heirs’ property has been lost nationwide since the end of the Civil War, according to published reports. About 1.3 million acres of such land, bought by former slaves, remains in the hands of their families. Ex-slaves bought property as a way to establish and anchor their freedom during Reconstruction, the center said, a feat in the 1870s, given the numerous obstacles blacks faced.

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