Leaving a Legacy to My Neighborhood: Estate Planning Property Transfers to Community Land Trusts

In the face of our current housing crisis, community land trusts (CLTs) are emerging as a tool to develop and preserve affordable housing and land, and to stabilize neighborhoods. CLTs stand out from other models with their commitment to preserving affordable housing and land in perpetuity, and with a governance structure that ensures residents, neighbors, and other community members hold central decision-making roles. While CLTs acquire property through a variety of methods, many CLTs are developing pathways for local homeowners to transfer property through estate planning. Bequeathing property to a CLT is one impactful way homeowners may leave a legacy to their neighborhoods.

This program will introduce CLTs as potential beneficiaries of estate plans, illustrate a Boston-based case study that offers some initial lessons-learned, and outline key considerations for working with homeowners who are interested in transferring property to CLTs. Panelists will include estate planning and elder law attorney Harry Margolis, who has worked with Dudley Neighbors, Inc. (DNI), one of the oldest and largest CLTs in the country; CLT practitioner and consultant Harry Smith, who has served as the executor of an estate that included a property transfer to DNI; and land use attorney David Linhart, who represents DNI. Participants can expect to leave the program with a deeper understanding of CLTs and why they matter, model documents for estate plans facilitating CLT property transfers, and crucial lessons and considerations for supporting homeowners who want to transfer their property to CLTs.

This program is hosted by the Trust and Estates Section of the Boston Bar Association, in partnership with the Greater Boston Community Land Trust Network.

Questions? Inquiries about program materials? Contact Trenon Browne at tbrowne@bostonbar.org