Eminent domain can affect any house. Including a house of worship.

Church property is subject to an eminent domain taking, but the condemning authority often fails to understand – and often significantly underestimates – your church property’s value.

Help my church

Church Property and North Carolina Eminent Domain Condemnation

When the government wants private land for a public project, even sacred land, they can generally take it. Unfortunately, even a small taking can dramatically and negatively impact your church and its services.

While church land is not immune to a government taking, you are not helpless as a steward of the church. You can and should pursue maximum compensation for the harms your church will suffer from the government’s taking. And we can help.

There are complex legal and appraisal rules that apply to eminent domain takings of religious property, but we know how to help you. Four of our attorneys used to represent the NCDOT, handling some of their biggest cases. We left the NCDOT because we saw too many property owners, including church property owners, struggle trying to go at it alone without an experienced eminent domain attorney.

Church property cases are particularly important to Stan Abrams, a lead attorney in our practice. He grew up in the church and has served as a deacon, Sunday School teacher, and member of church committees.

For a free professional evaluation of your church property case with no obligation, call us at 1-877-393-4990 today!

How eminent domain takings can affect churches and religious property

There are many possible impacts an eminent domain taking may have on your church and congregation:

Traffic Patterns: Will traffic around your church be rerouted? Will those new traffic patterns affect the accessibility of your church or the safety of your congregation?

Access: Could entrances and exits to your church property be blocked, moved, or eliminated?

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Signage: What if the NCDOT takes the portion of your land where your church’s sign currently is? Can the sign be relocated given how strictly signage tends to be regulated?

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Parking: Will the taking affect your parking capacity? Will the size of your congregation be reduced due to insufficient parking?

Church Buildings: Will your church building or facilities need to be altered due to the NCDOT’s project? Do you stand to lose some or all of a building?

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Activity Space: Will the DOT’s taking reduce or eliminate space your church needs to serve the community – from outreach and gatherings to events and athletics? Or what if you were planning to use that land for a new church building?

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Conformance With Regulations: After the NCDOT’s taking, will what remains of your church property lawfully conform to municipal rules? Will non-conformance restrict how your church can use the property in the future?

We have successfully represented many churches across North Carolina and helped them maximize their compensation,¹ and we can help your church, too. We have created a statewide network of appraisers, engineers, and other land experts that we can leverage to help us build your case.

Since we’ve been in business, we’ve helped our clients get on average nearly 3x their initial offer!¹

Before you agree to any DOT offer, call us at 1-877-393-4990 or contact us online for a free case evaluation.

Frequently Asked Questions About Church Property and Eminent Domain

Can you stop an eminent domain taking on your church’s land?

Preventing an eminent domain taking is rare. We recommend property owners focus on pursuing maximum compensation instead. However, if you contact us as soon as you know your church is in the crosshairs, we may be able to work with the NCDOT to negotiate changes to some parts of their plans and reduce the impact on your church’s property.

Is it costly to hire an experienced eminent domain attorney?

While it can be costly not to hire an eminent domain attorney to help you fight for maximum compensation, at our firm we offer a no-fee guarantee:

At the NC Eminent Domain Law Firm, you pay no attorney’s fee at all if we don’t recover compensation for you. Guaranteed. We also advance all costs of fighting your case, so you pay nothing upfront. There is no hourly fee and no retainer fee – even the case evaluation is free (and comes with no obligation).

Here’s an example of how it can work:

Let’s say the NCDOT offers you $300,000 for the land they’re taking from your church. We leverage our network of land experts and inside DOT knowledge (remember, four of our attorneys used to represent the NCDOT) to get your offer raised to $500,000. Our fee only comes from that additional $200,000, never your original offer. After our standard 1/3 contingency fee, $433,300 would remain – a $133,300 increase over your initial offer.¹

How much is your church property really worth? For a no cost, no obligation case evaluation, call 1-877-393-4990 today.

Get a free case
evaluation today.

There are only a handful of attorneys in NC who practice eminent domain exclusively, and even fewer with NCDOT experience. We have several. That’s why its worth getting in touch with us for a free case evaluation.

Here’s how it works:

1) Tell us about your situation.

2) We research your property as needed, using DOT maps, our own technology, and experience to see the exact effects.

3) We let you know what we think a fair offer would be. This evaluation is free, and there’s no
pressure or obligation to hire us after.

But please don’t wait to act. Waiting can hurt your case, and the cost is the same: free.

1-877-393-4990

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