Missouri Laws 140.600 – Suit to set aside tax deeds — actual tender not necessary
1. No suit or action in any of the courts of this state, either at law or in equity, shall hereafter be maintained by any person or corporation, against any other person or corporation, for the determination of the title to, or for the recovery of the possession of, any lands which shall have been sold for taxes, or any interest in any such lands, or for the setting aside or cancellation of any tax deed or sale of land for taxes alleged to have been void, voidable or defective, unless such person or corporation so seeking to recover such lands, or some interest therein, or the setting aside of such tax deed or tax sale, shall in his petition offer to refund to the defendant therein, or to such other person or corporation, from whom and against whom such recovery is sought, in such action, all taxes paid by such defendant, or other persons, and his grantors, remote or immediate, or by those under whom he claims, together with interest thereon from the date of payment of such taxes to the date of the judgment in such action.
2. No actual tender shall be required to be made by such plaintiff or other person seeking such recovery or cancellation of such deed, but it shall be deemed sufficient if an offer to pay the same, as soon as the amount thereof shall be ascertained, shall be made and set out in such petition.
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 140.600
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- hereafter: means the time after the statute containing it takes effect. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
3. All courts before which any such action may be brought or maintained shall, if the judgment in such action be adverse to the defendant, or defendants therein, and the recovery of such land, or any interest therein, be adjudged or decreed, find and adjudge by its decree or judgment the amount of money due to the defendant, or to other persons, on account of taxes or interest thereon paid as aforesaid by defendant or his grantors as aforesaid, and all such courts may, if such relief be prayed for in the answer, or the other pleading of the defendant, or other person, entitled to reimbursement, adjudge and decree that the amount so found by the court, or a jury, shall be and constitute a lien upon the lands recovered or in controversy.