I'm not a lawyer so I can't comment too much on this. Check out the following link though. Read the whole thing and it should help. The only other thing I could come up with is the fact that Hareton should have inherited Wuthering Heights by birthright. If I were arguing his case, I might be able to claim that Hareton's birthright may have enabled him to pay off the debts, that the property was worth more than the debts Hindley had accrued. You have to remember that Hareton was uneducated, and that he saw Heathcliff as a sort of father figure. In the long run, I don't think he would have fought for ownership regardless.