Suppose I own a piece of land and then die with no heirs. Later the local government or a private business really wants the land to build, say, a parking lot. Would the land automatically become the property of the local government? If not, what process would they have to go through to take title to the land? Who would they pay for it?
I’m not an attorney, but I dealt with my mom’s estate when she passed. As far as I know, your property along with the rest of your estate would go to probate. More than likely an heir would eventually be found (almost everyone has a distant relative somewhere). Assuming that no heir was found, your estate would become property of your state (at least here in the U.S.). This is how it works here in Pennsylvania. Probate is usually handled in orphan’s court in the deceased’s county of residence. I have no idea how it may work in other states or countries and laws may vary.
Bri2k
How much later? If it is a substantial bit, the land will probably be seized for back taxes and sold off. In the short run, as noted above, most states have laws that say abandoned property belongs to the state.
It doesn’t matter what type of property it is, a car, house, land, bank account, etc. If a person dies intestate, the local probate court tries to find the heirs. Without any heirs, the property reverts to the state. (This varies a bit from state to state.)
I have a relative whose job it was to try and track to heirs for such estates, btw. Rarely is there any property worth anything in these cases. In fact, he was usually looking for someone to pay for the funeral expenses, etc. instead. One case was the step-father of a very well known actor who told him to basically take a hike.
So, the real estate ends up being owned by the state which will usually auction it off. Again, the chances that the land in such a case being worth anything is very small.
More here:
You said no heirs so the state or city will take the property. However, probate has the duty to check for distant heirs. They usually depend on heirs for direction so that’s a useless circle. My experience is that probate attorneys don’t break their necks looking too far for relatives.
I had a personal case recently where there were two known heirs out of state. I told the attorney I had no idea where they might be. That was the end of the search. A little advanced Googling would have exposed those heirs. The attorney took the easiest route.
I think they bury it with the owner or put it in the ship if it’s a viking funeral.
Most states have registries of unclaimed properties, and you can ask them to search for any that belong to you.