In an opinion released on August 21 in Massenberg v. Clarendon County Treasurer (Op. No. 28234), the South Carolina Supreme Court invalidated the tax sale of real property in Clarendon County based on the delinquent...more
In an unpublished opinion released on May 12 in Grayson Dailey v. SC Home Holdings, LLC (Op. No. 2024-UP-164), the South Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the tax sale of real property in Lexington County over the objection of...more
Real property tax certificate sales provide a way for taxing authorities to collect delinquent taxes without having to foreclose on properties and take ownership. When the purchaser of the tax sale certificate obtains the...more
In an unpublished opinion released this week in Cutter & Company, LLC v. Stafford Funding Group LLC (Op. No. 2024-UP-016), the South Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the tax sale of property in Orangeburg County over the...more
In a recent opinion by the Alabama Supreme Court in Smith v. Cameron (SC-2023-0495), the court issued an opinion affirming a trial court’s refusal to award mesne profits to a tax deed holder following the trial court’s order...more
State and local taxes impact almost every taxpayer, and developments in any one jurisdiction can be frequent and sometimes confusing. ln this newsletter edition, we will briefly summarize selected state and local tax (SALT)...more
Sullivan's Permitting & Land Use Practice Group and Litigation Department have released the second issue of their Zoning and Development Newsletter. The publication aims to provide our firm's clients and others interested...more
Summary - In Tyler v. Hennepin County, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a county’s retention of the excess value of a home in a tax sale violated the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The decision, which...more
On May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Minnesota county’s retention of the excess proceeds from sale of a homeowner’s property to satisfy a tax lien violated the Takings Clause. This decision recognizes that...more
With essential unanimity, though with an array of concurrences in one of them, the Supreme Court ruled against government parties in three cases, two of them in favor of homeowners, and in property rights and environmental...more
Real property tax sales provide opportunities for investors to acquire properties for below market prices if the properties are not redeemed from sale or to earn interest on the taxes paid at the tax sale at generous rates if...more
It’s May in Indiana, which means flowers are blooming, the Indianapolis 500 is here, and the spring installment of Indiana property taxes are due. Property taxes in Indiana are paid twice a year, with payments generally due...more
Can improvements to real estate, such as buildings, be owned separately from the land beneath them? This is not usual, although permissible, such as in a ground lease situation; however, a recent decision from the Indiana...more
I. AD VALOREM TAX COLLECTION – LAND AND LIEN SALES. Tax sales are the mechanism by which counties collect delinquent ad valorem taxes. There are two types of tax sales in Alabama. The first involves the county selling the...more
Kentucky’s counties strictly abide by the statutory code outlined in KRS Chapter 134 when conducting tax sales. However, under section 156b of the Kentucky Constitution, Kentucky is a “home rule” state. This means that the...more
A bill pending before the South Carolina General Assembly, SB 102, would rewrite the procedure most commonly used to collect unpaid property taxes through the sale of real estate and mobile homes. Among other important...more
Renowned Pennsylvanian Benjamin Franklin famously wrote that “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” A recent decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court demonstrates that, even in the...more
On September 30, House Bill 3755 was enacted into law. House Bill 3755 amends certain provisions of South Carolina law governing automobile insurance, but at the very end, this bill also includes a provision that extends the...more
On Wednesday, the South Carolina Governor signed House Bill 3755 into law. The bill amends sections of the insurance code regarding automobile insurance coverage, but also includes a provision extending the statutory one-year...more
West Virginia’s counties strictly abide by the statutory code outlined in W. Va. Code Chapter 11A when conducting tax lien sales. The sheriff auctions the tax liens, which are freely assignable after purchase. If not...more
In a suit to foreclose a property tax lien, if the taxing authority does not exercise due diligence to support service of citation by a method other than by personal service can the owners, as a matter of due process, raise...more
Even in the best of times, knowing how to protect tax lien interests requires work. Many who invest in tax liens and tax deeds do so in multiple jurisdictions or in multiple locations within a state. But the tax sale laws...more
On Friday, June 26, 2020, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an Opinion in Stiff v. Equivest Financial, LLC, in which it held that a 2013 Bessemer tax sale occurring inside the courthouse — and not on the front steps of the...more
A large and growing source of property tax refunds in Cook County are generated when a Court reverses or vacates the sale of delinquent taxes. A recent Appellate Court decision provides a good overview of the tax sale...more