Land held for generations, its proof scattered across a century of paper.

How the land is taken

When an owner dies without a will, the parcel passes as undivided shares to every descendant. Those shares are rarely recorded, so no one holds clear title.

A speculator needs only one heir willing to sell — often a distant cousin with a sliver of an interest — and can then ask a court to partition the whole property. It goes to auction. Families who have farmed the land for a century learn about it by mail.

Courts have better options under the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, now law in twenty-six states. Those protections depend on the parcel being documented and every cotenant identified. That is a paperwork problem before it is a legal one.

What we build

Freehold reconstructs the ownership record from deed books, probate files, tax rolls and vital records, and assembles it into an evidence file an attorney can act on. Every fact carries its citation and the page image behind it. Where the record is silent, the file says so, and states what was searched.

Where we stop

Freehold produces evidence, not legal conclusions. It issues no opinion of title and tells no one who owns anything — those are determinations for a licensed attorney, and the platform is built to hold that line.

It takes no equity in family land, holds no claim on any property, and has no interest in any parcel it documents. Families reach it through attorneys, legal aid and community land trusts, and families never pay.

Follow the work

We are building with attorneys and legal aid organisations now. Leave an address and we will write occasionally as it progresses.