Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2266 – Procedure to quiet tax titles
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2266
- Acquiring person: means either of the following:
(a) A person acquiring tax sale title to a tax sale property. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Adjudicated property: means property of which tax sale title is acquired by a political subdivision pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- Donee: The recipient of a gift.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Owner: means a person who holds an ownership interest that has not been terminated pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Political subdivision: means any of the following to the extent it has the power to levy ad valorem taxes and conduct tax sales for failure to pay ad valorem taxes:
(a) The state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Property: includes every form, character and kind of property, real, personal, and mixed, tangible and intangible, corporeal and incorporeal, and every share, right, title or interest therein or thereto, and every right, privilege, franchise, patent, copyright, trade-mark, certificate, or other evidence of ownership or interest; bonds, notes, judgments, credits, accounts, or other evidence of indebtedness, and every other thing of value, in possession, on hand, or under the control, at any time during the calendar year for which taxes are levied, within the State of Louisiana, of any person, firm, partnership, association of persons, or corporation, foreign or domestic whether the same be held, possessed, or controlled, as owner, agent, pledgee, mortgagee, or legal representative, or as president, cashier, treasurer, liquidator, assignee, master, superintendent, manager, sequestrator, receiver, trustee, stakeholder, depository, warehouseman, keeper, curator, executor, administrator, legatee, heir, beneficiary, parent, attorney, usufructuary, mandatary, fiduciary, or other capacity, whether the owner be known or unknown; except in the cases of fire, life, or other insurance companies, the notes, judgments, accounts, and credits of nonresident persons, firms, corporations, partnerships, associations, or companies doing business in the State of Louisiana, originating from the business done in this state, are hereby declared to be property with its situs within this state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:1702
- Redemptive period: means the period in which a person may redeem property as provided in thethe Louisiana Constitution. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Tax sale: means the sale or adjudication of tax sale title to property pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Tax sale certificate: means the written notice evidencing a tax sale to be filed in accordance with Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Tax sale party: means the tax notice party, the owner of property, including the owner of record at the time of a tax sale, as shown in the conveyance records of the appropriate parish, and any other person holding an interest, such as a mortgage, privilege, or other encumbrance on the property, including a tax sale purchaser, as shown in the mortgage and conveyance records of the appropriate parish. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
- Tax sale title: means the set of rights acquired by a tax sale purchaser or, in the case of adjudicated property, on the applicable political subdivision, pursuant to this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2122
A.(1) After expiration of the redemptive period, an acquiring person may institute an ordinary proceeding against the tax sale parties whose interests the petitioner seeks to be terminated. The petition shall contain a description of the property, the time and place of the sale, and the name of the officer who made the sale, the page and record book and date of filing of the tax sale certificate, and for adjudicated properties sold or donated by a political subdivision, reference to the page of record book and date of filing of the sale or donation, notice that the petitioner is the holder of tax sale title to the property by virtue of tax sale or is the owner of the property by virtue of a sale or donation of adjudicated property, and notice that the title and full ownership in the property will be confirmed unless a proceeding to annul is instituted within six months after the date of service of the petition and citation. This suit shall be brought in the parish in which the property is located unless it lies in two or more parishes, in which case this suit may be instituted in either of the parishes.
(2) The petition and citation shall be served as in ordinary suits; however, if a tax sale party is a nonresident of the state, is unknown, or his residence is unknown, the court shall appoint a curator ad hoc to represent him and receive service. The curator shall receive a reasonable fee for his services to be fixed by the court in each suit, which shall be taxed as costs of suit. If no proceeding to annul the sale has been instituted after the lapse of six months after the date of service of petition and citation, judgment shall be rendered quieting and confirming the title and the full ownership interest therein.
B. In all cases when tax titles have been quieted by prescription of five years under the provisions of Article VII, Section 25 of thethe Louisiana Constitution, the purchaser, donee, or his heirs or assigns may, either obtain a judgment of the court confirming the title by suit in the manner and form in Subsection A of this Section, except that the delay for answer shall be ten days instead of six months, provided that the failure to bring suit shall in no manner affect such prescriptive titles.
C. The petitioner may file a notice of lis pendens with the recorder of mortgages of the parish in which the property is located. A transfer, mortgage, lien, privilege, or other encumbrance filed after the filing of the notice of lis pendens shall not affect the property. The recorder of mortgages or the recorder of conveyances shall cancel, erase, terminate, or release the acts upon request of the petitioner.
Acts 2008, No. 819, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.