Final update (sort of) on my Tax Lien Adventure. At last posting, I was stuck trying to serve a defendant living in Germany, and the case just sat there. In September 2021, when things were opening back up again, I was ordered by the Court to to "show cause" why the case shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. This kicked me back into gear, and that's when I learned the defendant in Germany had died in December 2020. No wonder he never accepted the summons packets. I went to court as ordered, explained the missing defendant and got permission to continue. I was also strongly "encouraged" to get an attorney.
A local TN friend, who's an fabulous small-town attorney (like Matlock, only skinnier and not as tall) agreed to advise me. He helped revise the Quiet Title documents, and I submitted an Amended Complaint in December 2021. I also discovered the (linked right there on the Chancery Court's website, duh) the TN Rules of Civil Procedure, and realized that the proofs of service can be submitted individually as received, so I actually could have gone ahead against the other 4 without the 5th defendant being served. Sent out the amended documents in March, got proofs of service in April, and got on the court docket for late June.
In June, I recieved a default judgment against the 3 defendants who didn't give a hoot about the property and never responded. The 4th defendant, who was hoping to get some kind of payment from a lien he'd recorded on the property shortly before the tax sale, did respond, and the judge set a final hearing date for August, when she wanted to be over and done with it completely. The judge said more than once that I needed to "bring a witness," for what I had no idea. I found another local attorney who agreed to look over the case, and he determined that he could testify that the tax sale was done lawfully, that the defendendant had no legal standing to contest my ownership, and that the recorded lien had been made void for a number of reasons, including the tax lien, which is superior to almost every other kind.
At the hearing in early August, while waiting for the case to be called, I spoke at length with the 4th defendant. I explained the several reasons why the lien he'd recorded in early May 2015 wasn't valid, and that though I had purchased the property, it wasn't my responsibility to pay for work done 18 years earlier (for his grandparents). He was a nice person in a bad position, but still, I didn't owe him anything. Ultimately, he spoke to the judge during a break and withdrew his opposition to the complaint. I won! but it didn't end up feeling like much of a victory. Most likely, if I'd known what I was doing and attempted to speak with him a long time ago, this might have been concluded a year or more ago. My "expert witness" still gets paid for reviewing and showing up, even though it turns out he wasn't needed. Oh well. Deductable expense.
I'm waiting to get a copy of the signed and filed final Judgment -- this is the court document that says what the case was about, how it proceeded, what the arguments were, and what the judge finally decided. I'll use this either to get a warrantable deed in my name, or for a buyer to get title insurance in their name. It's a vital link in the chain of title that will be researched from now on out.
On the plus side, the county conducted its every-5-years tax assessment just this spring and doubled the tax value of the property. Cross your fingers for a profitable outcome if a buyer comes along!
I decided against law school my senior year in high school. This was a super interesting, though somewhat stressful, legal education, so maybe in the life after my next life ...
