City of Mobile to provide free wills for low-income families

Sep 11th, 2017

Mobile, Ala. -- The City of Mobile is introducing a will program to reduce blight and revitalize neighborhoods. Facilitated by Legal Services of Alabama, LLC, the "leaving a legacy" program will provide wills free of charge to those who qualify.

As this program continues, the City will require that all housing assistance applicants have a will in place by the time of assistance. The goal is to have as many residents with wills as possible.

Without a will, many homes are left with no clear owner and become an heir property — a property that has been inherited by relatives of the last property owner. Heir property is one of the greatest contributing factors to blight in any medium to large size City, Mobile included. These types of properties are often not transferred properly or are transferred to multiple heirs.

This is particularly a problem when the heirs include multiple generations and are out of state causing the home to become forgotten, abandoned and unmaintained. These properties lead to higher tax defaults and deferred maintenance costs that put the property at risk for demolition.

"We want to leave a legacy, not a burden," said Mayor Stimpson. "This program ensures the multi-generational loss of wealth is not passed down to future generations. It is one more piece to the puzzle to restoring our historic neighborhoods and leads us farther on the path to becoming to becoming the safest, most business and family-friendly City."