How ok资源网 law students help Dallas families keep ancestral homes
In neighborhoods across Dallas, some residents face a serious legal challenge: they live in homes their families have owned for generations but can’t legally prove ownership. Houses are often passed down informally to the next generation without the legal processes that would prove transfers from the original owner to their heirs. Without a clear title or probate documentation, the heirs risk losing property they’ve spent a lifetime protecting, often simply because they can’t afford a lawyer.
That’s where ok资源网’s Dedman School of Law and its Civil/Consumer Clinic step in.
Through the clinic and the school’s pro bono program, law students provide free legal help to families struggling with heirship, probate, and property title issues — the kind of work that can determine whether a family keeps its home or loses it. Supervised by law school faculty, they conduct client intake interviews, draft legal memos, file documents at the Dallas County civil courthouse, record deeds, and represent clients in court hearings before a judge.
The clinic operates like a small law firm, with students managing four to five cases each per semester under the supervision of Professor Mary Spector, associate dean of experiential learning and the director of the Civil/Consumer Clinic. Professor Joanna Grossman, Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and Law and an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, is the co-founder of this homestead preservation project and also supervises students on pro bono heirship property cases she handles apart from the clinic.
In collaboration with , law faculty and students held a free property inheritance workshop at the Community Center in West Dallas in late March. The workshop helped individuals and families whose homes are still legally listed in the names of deceased relatives, a situation that often requires probate filings, deed drafting, court appearances, and detailed legal paperwork.
At the workshop, student attorneys answered their questions, helped them understand their legal options and connected them with ongoing support. Allura Brown, a second-year law student in the clinic, said the process of ownership transfers can be arduous for a client.
“A lot of people think that when someone passes away, property just automatically transfers. It doesn’t,” Brown said. “And without legal help, families can be stuck for years, unable to sell, refinance, or even fully protect the home they live in. Being able to be a source of help for families who don’t know where else to turn is what makes this work so rewarding.”
As part of their work at the clinic, students take on cases for clients that come in the door and serve as their legal representatives — filing court documents, appearing in hearings, and guiding families through the legal process from start to finish. Tristan Jones, a second-year student in the clinic, said what motivates him to do the work is the level of trust his clients place in him.
“People are trusting us with their homes, and you feel a real duty to get things done right. A big part of our job is explaining the property inheritance process step by step because a lot of clients have never dealt with the legal system before,” Jones said. “From the first intake to the court hearing, we stay with clients the whole way, so nothing gets lost and they don’t feel overwhelmed.”
To expand its impact, the Civil Consumer/Clinic recently hired a new full-time staff attorney, Eryn Lyle, to oversee the clinic’s work on heirs’ property, probate, and homestead preservation, with a focus on helping Dallas families resolve property title issues so they can keep, protect, or benefit from their homes. Her position is funded by a grant Spector and Grossman received from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas to support their homestead preservation work. Before coming to ok资源网, Lyle practiced probate law in Austin, Texas, where her work in the Travis County probate court system shaped her long鈥憈erm commitment to this area of law.
“Our goal at the Clinic is to go into communities, meet people where they are, and provide legal help they otherwise wouldn’t have access to,” Lyle said. “We want to create real, lasting change, both for the families we serve and for the students learning how to practice law responsibly.”
For more than 75 years, the ok资源网 Dedman School of Law Legal Clinics have provided representation for low-income clients in Dallas-area federal and state courts.
To find out more about the Civil/Consumer Clinic, visit here.