Tarboro hosts clinic on wills for social justice

August 2, 2010

Anonymous Haroon Saqib The Daily Southerner Mon Aug 02, 2010, 12:30 PM EDT

TARBORO — In 1910, African Americans owned 15 million acres of land in the United States but, by 1995, they retained only 2 million acres.

To help staunch that loss, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the Edgecombe County Cooperative Extension Service hosted a free clinic on wills and other end-of-life documents in Tarboro last weekend.

A lack of sound legal advice and well-drafted wills in low-wealth, African-American communities has contributed to this dramatic loss.

“The land ownership gap between African Americans and other communities is considered a cause of the wealth gap and the political power gap in the United States,” says Becky Jaffe, an attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

Wills help families plan to pass their property from one generation to the next, which increases the likelihood that land will remain in the family.

“I never had a will drafted before, and my wife said that we should attend because it was important for our personal property,” said Murray Morning, one of the 13 Edgecombe County residents who participated in the free weekend-long clinic.

A team of lawyers from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and law students from universities around North Carolina drafted more than 40 documents for the attendees.

“They were very professional and broke everything down step-by-step without a rush. Some of the nicest people I ever talked to,” added Morning.

Clients drafted wills to outline how they wanted to distribute their property for the future.

“My wife and I own two acres of property here, and the will was important for me to say what I wanted to do with my property,” said Bobby Yates, a bee farmer in Edgecombe County.

“The staff did a good job of helping me understand why the will was important and answered any of my questions about my property.”

Clients also had the option of obtaining three other documents: a power of attorney, living will, and healthcare power of attorney. Those documents enable clients to manage their finances and healthcare decisions in the event of a serious illness.

“This really takes the hardship off of your spouse and children to try to make these decisions for you when you are unable to speak for yourself,” said Morning.

Over the past few years, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the Cooperative Extension Service have been helping Edgecombe County residents retain and beneficially manage land. They hope to expand these services further by hosting more wills clinics in the future.

Yates added, “This takes a load off of me and I would recommend this to everyone.”

Winston-Salem

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