Blindsided Tax Sale

Blindsided Tax Sale

Woodbridge, VA 路 Member since 2016 路 17 posts 路 8 votes

I live in the state of Georgia, (middle Georgia region) and my family has property that was inherited to us from my Grandmother's passing. However 2 peices of land went up for auction over the past year and and a half.  For once peice of land,  none of the heirs were notified and for the 2nd peice of land, their was a situation where one of my uncles tried to put the bundle it in a real estate deal unbeknownst to the rest of the family, he intentionally didn't pay taxes on it bcause he felt like it was worthless, but it was sold and now im being told that hes mad about 馃檮. We were told from the county that because it (the property deal my uncle elected himself to take part of) was a judicial sale (which i never heard of) , that we only had two months to redeem it back instead of the standard one year time frame for most tax sales. My sister inquired about it with the county and was told that the issue of notification should be taken up with the lawfirm that was incharge of sending out the notices but I feel like the county is just as culpable since they relied on the lawyers. So I just want to know is their grounds to bring about a lawsuit towards both the buyers and county?

Also when it comes to notices, Only my uncle knew about one of them due to him trying to sale it with another property,  however no official typed notices were sent out to rest of the heirs regarding that property and another peice of land that was auctioned off recently which my uncle claim he had just paid on last year. 

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  • Realtor 路 Hanover Twp, PA 路 Member since 2018 路 3k+ posts 路 3k+ votes
    2mo

    @Joshua Hill, a few thoughts:

    1. TALK TO A LOCAL REAL ESTATE LAWYER NOW! 

    Time is ticking and this doesn't at all sound like an issue you are ready to handle on your own. Talk to a local real estate lawyer ASAP!

    2. That said, my guess is they notified everyone correctly and I'll explain why. 

    MANY times when people die, nobody takes control of the estate and the property's owner remains in the name of the person who died! So, in these situations, the heirs didn't register to administrate the estate and never had the property deeded to them. So, they didn't make themselves known as interested parties that needed to be notified. 

    The government doesn't magically know who the heirs are! There could be a will that leaves the properties to ME! So, for all the government knows you are not even an heir UNTIL someone takes real actions such as filing to become administrator of the estate, etc. 

    3. Your state may have some rights of redemption, but there is usually a timeframe on those and you need help navigating that and may need to put some $$$ together to make it happen. So, don't delay. 

    4. If you are an heir, don't rely on an "uncle" or anyone else take control of things to protect your interests. These are civil processes, YOU are responsible for taking actions. It isn't up to the government to make sure things work out for you. YOU need to make it happen. 

    5. Since you mentioned your uncle, if he was registered as the administrator of the estate and received the notices and let these things happen, you ungle may be the one responsible and the one you need to sue. That is a fair question for the lawyer assuming the uncle was administrator. 

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