Great question! This is something that is often overlooked at most Historical House museums and often glossed over. It is my personal pet-peeve that American Historical House Museums (i.e. Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpellier etc.) did not until very recently address the issue of Slavery in the American South.

Enslaved African American had no rights, which meant that after the Virginia Slave Code of 1705, were treated like property in regards to whoever "owned" them. In the case of no heirs, the enslaved people could be passed on the next of kin, like nieces/nephews etc. or if there were no present they would be auctioned off. This often meant that entire families would be separated quite brutally. Even if related next of kin could be located, this often meant that the enslaved people had to be separated since they came from different families. What I mean by this is shown by the fact that when George Washington died, he only freed a portion of the enslaved people at Mt. Vernon, the ones that he owned as part of the Washington family (even then, with the provision of after Martha's death). The vast majority of enslaved people were owned by Martha Custiss under the Custiss family. So enslaved people, after years of working and living together, forming families and bonds had to be separated abruptly because of dynastic propriety rights. Also, keep in mind that even if there was a provision in someone's will to free enslaved people, since many of the plantation class were buried in debt, this meant that the enslaved people would be auctioned off to pay creditors, regardless of the will.

Another great example of this comes from Melvin Ely's book, Israel on the Appomattox where he recounts of an instance where in the 1800s a Slave Owner decided to free all of his enslaved people after his death since he had no heirs. In addition, he would liquidate all his assets and that would be distributed towards the newly freed Enslaved. Quite a nice gesture! Unfortunately, a distant relative of his managed to somehow get a hold of his will and hide it away, so he successfully went to court and received all of the enslaved people as his property. The truth only came out much later because of his wife finding the will (why he didn't destroy it I do not know) and contesting in court successfully against him. Unfortunately, this took years, and these enslaved people did what people do and married, had kids or passed away. Ultimately, the court ruled that only the original enslaved people were eligible to be freed, but not their spouses or kids, and since the old property had already been liquidated it meant they would not receive any money. This meant that many, even though freed, had no choice but to stay because of family and also, no money.

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Sources:

*Ely, Melvin. Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s Through the Civil War. 2005 https://www.amazon.com/Israel-Appomattox-Southern-Experiment-Freedom/dp/0679768726

Northup, Solomon. 12 Years A Slave, 1853. https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3ATwelve%20years%20a%20slave%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts

Boles, John B. Black Southerners, 1619–1869. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1984.

Stampp, Kenneth M. The Peculiar Institution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.

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*Must read book about Free and Enslaved African Americans in the Antebellum South, highly recommend!