In December 2022, Deanna Henderson received heartbreaking news that no parent should ever have to endure. Her son, a Philadelphia firefighter, passed away at just 36 years old.
As his closest relative, Ms. Henderson knew she would be the one to take care of his financial affairs, including the status of his Northeast Philadelphia house. Yet, in her time of grieving, much of the paperwork would have to wait.
On April 17, the Register of Wills’ Title Clearance Unit (TCU) helped Ms. Henderson finally obtain a new deed for her son’s former home using a process that the TCU has replicated for dozens of city residents since Register of Wills John Sabatina created the special unit last year.
“It’s a relief. We can breathe now because it’s official now, you know,” Ms. Henderson says. “And I know that this is something that my son wanted.”
With the support of leaders like Councilmember Anthony Phillips, who represents the district where Ms. Henderson’s son lived, Register Sabatina is planning to grow the TCU and help many more Philadelphians obtain clear titles to their homes. Research has shown there are thousands of affected homes, often called tangled titles, in the city.
“We are extremely committed to helping rightful heirs obtain clear titles for their homes,” Register Sabatina says. “Our Title Clearance Unit helps families protect the generational wealth in the value of their homes, and it helps neighborhoods by stabilizing local housing.”
At first, Ms. Henderson didn’t know where to turn for help. She kept up with her son’s mortgage payments and the maintenance, but the process for getting a new deed was unclear.
“It was a lot of trial and error,” she says. “It was speaking to a lot of different people, getting a lot of different answers. I asked the same questions and got 10 different answers. It was very frustrating. I just kind of pushed it to the side and said, ‘I’m not going to deal with it.’”
Then she received a piece of mail from the TCU and contacted them for assistance.
“It was very easy to talk to the office and I got a clearer understanding of what I needed to do,” she says.
Each Title Clearance situation is unique, so the unit uses a very personalized approach in walking the constituent through things like probate search, title search, heir search, lien search, and applications for tax relief, home improvement, and deed fraud guard. Ms. Henderson’s case took about three months to resolve from start to finish.
“It was very easy. All I had to do was provide the right documentation,” she says. “When I didn’t understand anything, I emailed or called and the people who work there answered all my questions.”
