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3/11/2026
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Bill protects against unfair loss of inherited family homes
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 STATE HOUSE – Sen. Jacob E. Bissaillon and Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee have introduced legislation to protect Rhode Island families from unfairly losing ownership of property they inherit.
Their Uniform Partition of Heirs’ Property Act (2026-H 7210, 2026-S 2394) addresses a situation that commonly occurs when a property is inherited by multiple heirs without a formal estate plan. In such situations, any of the individual “tenants in common” can force a partition sale, and some real estate speculators take advantage of that law by acquiring small shares of such properties, filing a partition action and then acquiring the whole property at less than market value, taking the home and depleting the family’s inherited wealth.
Representative McEntee, who serves as chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Senator Bissaillon, who chairs the Senate Housing and Municipal Government Committee, introduced the bill as a means to protect Rhode Islanders’ homes and the generational wealth they provide.
“For most low- and middle-income families, a home is the most significant asset they will ever have, and it provides a stable foundation for their future. This legislation will help preserve generational wealth while maintaining existing property rights. It has been adopted in more than two dozen states as a balanced reform to modernize partition law, and it will help protect Rhode Islanders, their assets and their beloved family homes,” said Chairman Bissaillon (D-Dist. 1, Providence). “Given the depth of our housing crisis, our state needs to address partition of heirs’ property both as a fairness issue and because families simply cannot afford to lose these homes. In so many cases, the home represents the hard work and sacrifice of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to provide for their families, and those families deserve every opportunity to benefit as their relatives intended.”
Said Chairwoman McEntee (D-Dist. 33, South Kingstown, Narragansett), “This legislation is fundamentally about fairness, and it protects individuals and families who inherit homes or land from involuntary sale and loss of property. During the committee hearing, we heard how this legal loophole disproportionately affects communities of color and other disadvantaged populations, and that across the country, families have lost generational wealth and property due to forced property sales in the event of an owner passing away without a will. This legislation, which has been enacted in 26 states, protects the rights of all heirs to a shared piece of property, and in turn, it also protects the memories and value of a family home.”
The legislation establishes basic due process protections during partition actions, including notice standards, a requirement for an independent appraisal, a right of first refusal for cotenants, and a legal process that must be followed if no cotenants exercise that right and the property is to be sold. The bill stipulates that such sales must take place on the open market and at a commercially reasonable price, not by sealed bids or auction unless a court finds it would be in the best interest of the cotenants to do otherwise.
The bill had hearings earlier this session before both chambers’ Judiciary committees, during which it received support from legal experts, and from Roger Williams University law student Isiah DiPina, who related his own family’s painful loss by partition sale of his uncle’s home in North Providence, which was mortgage-free and had been in the family for nearly 40 years, when family members could not reach an ownership agreement.
“Th[is] act would have given my father the right to buy out his siblings at a fair, court-ordered appraised price, or at minimum, required an open-market sale to capture the home’s true value. Instead of being forced into a sale, our family would have legal tools to preserve both our history and our home,” DiPina testified.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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