Vclaims don't expire in Legacy Haven. They just stay there.

[KendrickLlama]

So what I've noticed is that village claims won't stop existing even without a leader. When I try to claim one, I can't.

[borka]

Not a bug - intended behaviour (while there might be a small number bugged like with pclaims where you never been able to smash the stake even when being sure the owner is inactive for nearly a year)

You'd need to smash the idol, statues and banners to claim new - if you can't right click idol and "Become Lawspeaker" the old one is still alive and never renounced

http://ringofbrodgar.com/wiki/Village

A Lawspeaker cannot leave the village by any means other than death until he renounces his role. If someone else wishes to become Lawspeaker, the only way to achieve such is to kill the current Lawspeaker or have them renounce their role.

If a village has no Lawspeaker, only members of that village can become Lawspeaker if said village has more than 50k authority. If the same village drops below 50k authority and there is no Lawspeaker anyone can become the Lawspeaker (members of that village or not). The only exception to this is if a member of the village already has a role in it, and consequently cannot become Lawspeaker. If the Chieftain wishes to become the Lawspeaker, he must first renounce his role.

If and only if a village has no members in it can anyone not a member of that village become the Lawspeaker of that village. Right click the Village Idol from a visible range to become one. If the village has more then 50k authority the Trespassing skill is required and criminal acts must be turned on, although no scents are left taking over the empty village. The person attempting to become Lawspeaker of an empty village can not be a Lawspeaker of another village.

[TeckXKnight]

Resolved, locking. =)