The next register of wills should keep up the good work in fixing ‘tangled titles’ | Editorial

In a city like Philadelphia, it’s all too common to see problems fester without substantive action. On issues such as gun violence, failing schools, and regressive tax policies, Philadelphians have struggled for decades with the dismal reality that progress is often fleeting.

Yet in one area — protecting generational wealth from what’s known as “tangled titles” — things may be turning around, and it’s crucial that the next register of wills keep up that momentum.

A tangled title occurs when the legal owner of a home is no longer clear, often because a parent or grandparent has died without leaving a will. According to advocates, tangled titles affect over 10,000 properties in Philadelphia, endangering more than $1 billion in generational wealth, mostly for people of color.

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The lack of a clear title leaves families vulnerable. While Philadelphia has established extensive programs to help low- and moderate-income homeowners with expensive home repairs, those with tangled titles are not eligible for those benefits.

Families with tangled titles also cannot take out loans on the value of their property, leaving little recourse when faced with unexpected maintenance costs. Over time, the inability to fix leaky roofs, broken windows, rusted plumbing, or hazardous electrical work may lead these families to sell — typically for prices well below market value. In other cases, the properties are foreclosed upon.

“Untangling” a title is often prohibitively expensive for affected families. Resolving even a simple tangled title case can add up to more than $9,000 in legal costs, taxes, and fees on a home valued at the median in Philadelphia of $88,800.

During the reign of Ron Donatucci, a South Philadelphia ward leader who served as the city’s register of wills from 1980 to 2020, the problem of tangled titles grew into a thorny knot. Critics of Donatucci, an unabashed practitioner of the city’s patronage system, often derided him for being more concerned about advocating for the politically connected than working on such issues as protecting the generational wealth of the mostly Black families who were losing their homes to tangled titles. Roughly half of the city’s 10,000 tangled titles became encumbered during the last decade of Donatucci’s tenure.

Things changed under the current Register of Wills Tracey Gordon. While Gordon’s tenure has not been without problems (she improperly let her daughter sell Eagles merchandise out of a City Hall conference room, among other issues), she’s successfully refocused the office on raising awareness about the need for end-of-life planning.

Alongside the Pew Charitable Trusts, the legal aid group known as Philadelphia VIP, Records Commissioner James Leonard, Community Legal Services, and others, Gordon’s advocacy has focused on piercing the sometimes taboo nature of estate planning. The easiest way to help families with tangled titles is for homeowners to clearly spell out the wishes for their assets.

Thanks largely to bills passed by Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, who had to sort through a tangled title involving her own family’s property, City Council now requires funeral homes to provide families with a tangled title information sheet, which is available in seven languages. Richardson also fought for a $7.6 million fund to assist families in the work of clearing their titles. Last fiscal year, Philadelphia VIP saw twice as many applications for title-clearing services than the prior year.

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It is essential that this progress continues, and that John Sabatina, who will likely win election as the next register of wills in November, maintains Gordon’s proactive approach. Putting the connected ahead of everyday Philadelphians has usually failed to pan out for the city. City Council must hold Sabatina to his campaign promise to prioritize ensuring all families have basic estate planning.

Otherwise, tangled titles may become yet another intractable Philadelphia problem.