All Forum Posts by: Denise Evans

@Peter Walther, respectfully, judges do make mistakes, but unless overturned on appeal or made without jurisdiction, their decisions are final and are law.  For an underwriter to invade that and determine a judge made a mistake is wrong.  Judges hear and see all of the evidence, have an opportunity to observe the demeanor of the witnesses, etc. Even an appellate court will not invade those provinces of the trial judge, and will overturn only for mistakes of law. In addition, there are complicated rules regarding who has the burden of proof, and when that burden shifts.  I know of no lay persons, and very few attorneys, who are able to successfully navigate those issues.  As one recent example, the Stiff v Equivest decision regarding Alabama tax sales was most likely a failure of proof issue in a particular lawsuit, and not the "end of the world" state-wide decision most people thought. On the other hand, it might have been a global decision. Nobody would know for sure until an appellate court spoke on THAT issue.

An underwriter should legitimately investigate whether the court had jurisdiction, whether timely notice of appeal was filed, and whether the time has expired for post-trial motions.  Perhaps for an in-personam lawsuit, the underwriter should see if there are more potential claimants than just the ones named in the lawsuit. More than that invades the province of the judiciary.

@Devon Daniels Mobile homes are personal property. If the owner also owns the land, then the owner receives one tax bill for  the land and the mobile home. If not paid, then the property goes to auction, but ONLY the land is sold, not the mobile home.  In such a case, you have no rights at all to possession of the mobile home and are not entitled to make any improvements. If the lender wants to repossess, they can do so without redeeming first. On the other hand, many such properties have no lender, are in poor shape, and are truly abandoned by the owner.  You can usually get a bill of sale to the mobile home from the owner. Or, you can rent the land to the mobile home owner with a written lease. Then, if they quit paying the rent, you have rights under Alabama's mobile home statute to basically take it in payment for unpaid rent.

If someone does not own the land, they pay taxes just like they pay auto taxes when the renew their tags. Mobile homes have a decal that has to go on them when the taxes are paid.

Sometimes a property owner will want FHA financing to purchase a mobile home. In that case, FHA requires them to cancel the title to the mobile home, which legally converts it to real property. Then FHA takes a mortgage on the land and the mobile home. BTW, simply removing the axle or closing up the bottom or even bricking in the mobile home does not convert it to real property. Only cancelling the title will do that. If the title has been cancelled, then the tax appraisal information for the property will NOT include the "MH" designation, and it will be appraised the same as it if were a site-built home, but probably using a lower per-square foot value.

@Tai Bhattad, @Ned Carey, it makes no difference if you hired an attorney to do the QT or did it yourself, if you have a valid QT order.  

When I first created my QT forms, I downloaded forms from reputable online services and also obtained forms from attorney friends of mine. Those were the basis of most of the QT complaints filed in courts over the past 20-30 years. What a mish-mash of confusing forms that blithely included in-personam and in-rem language and statute cites in the same complaint. Not as alternative counts, but just as if there were no difference.  They also did not track the requirements of the statutes as far as allegations in the complaint.  Notice pleading is not sufficient, there are specific things that have to be in that complaint for the court to have jurisdiction. They did not include important requirements from the appellate decisions, such as the magic words that plaintiff was in "peaceable" possession as opposed to some other language used in the forms.  None of them included specific recitals regarding what steps the plaintiff took to locate unknown possible owners, as required by the in-rem statutes.  So, saying an attorney-filed QT lawsuit has more credibility with underwriters is greatly misplaced confidence in the vast majority of attorneys who use recycled forms rather than drafting pleadings from scratch.

The underwriter is going to check to see if the court had jurisdiction to enter the order. That is all they are entitled to check. The judge is the final decision maker if there is jurisdiction and there was no appeal after the decision.  Pro se or attorney filed, it's all the same.  For an underwriter to deny coverage based on his/her own opinion regarding the correctness of the order after jurisdiction was gained and no appeal filed, would open that insurance company up to a lawsuit for damages by the title insurance applicant. Judges do not take kindly to people invading what is the exclusive province of the judiciary.

@Justin Mason, if the property is in Jefferson County, they have a special law passed in 1938 that says it doesn't matter if the wrong name is on the tax sale, it is still valid. Everybody else, void. Yes, they will sell you a tax deed even if it is void. That is because it's valid until somebody makes a claim it is void. Many times the heirs are in the wind, or don't care, or don't know, and the problem never arises. Plus, if you possession the property for 3 years after you obtain your tax deed, then the statute of limitations expires and nobody is allowed to sue you and claim the tax sale is void.

@Tyson Begly, I target properties for which I can obtain quitclaim deeds from former owners, thereby obviating the need for quiet title lawsuits.  I'm sorry, I can't tell you any title companies. Just keep calling around.

@Seneca Walden, lien sales have a completely different set of rules. They are allowed to have online auctions.

The June 26, 2020 Alabama Supreme Court decision of Stiff v. Equivest struck terror in the hearts of Alabama tax certificate investors. The court held that a Bessemer tax auction, held inside the courthouse, was void because the statute required auctions be outside the door of the courthouse. Suddenly, we were facing hundreds of thousands of void tax certificates owned by investors.

Fortunately, the legislature sprang into action with SB111. It amended the law so auctions could tax place anywhere on courthouse grounds, and it made the change retroactive. This morning, Thursday April 8, 2021, Governor Ivey signed it into law. It is Alabama Act 2021-175.

All of those tax certificates are now valid again.

Rejoice!!!!!

Hi @Vance H., I also received your email. I sent you the list.

If he is redeeming for his brother's benefit or if his brother has died and he is the heir.

@William Randall Jones, there is a 5-year look back period when someone applies for Medicaid. If there have been any real estate transfers within the past five years before the application for Medicaid assistance, then they look to see if the person received fair market value for the property. If not, then they take the difference between the fair market value and the transfer price (such as, FMV $10,000, gave away free to a relative for $0) and that is the claw-back amount. Then they divide that number by a dollar amount that changes from state to state and represents the average monthly nursing home cost for that state, at that point in time. Let's say the number is $5,000. If a $10,000 asset is given away, and that would represent 2 months of average nursing home care in the state, then the applicant is in time out for two months. Medicaid will not pay for two months of nursing home care. This is on top of the "no assistance" while they are investigating all of this after application has been made.

There are things you can do, but simply getting assets out of your wife's name is not enough.