All Forum Posts by: Christine Garnier

I found an abandoned land lot several years ago and claimed it under the Adverse Possession law. I filed a notice of adverse  possession. I also paid 7 years of the unpaid property taxes so the parcel is now up to date. I thought about doing a quiet title but I learned that title insurance ask for 6 months to 3 years of ownership prior insuring a such property obtained by judicial decree. Also the timeframe and cost to file a quiet title is very unattractive. 

Someone made me a financial offer to transfer my interests in the parcel to him, with a quitclaim deed. My question is:  can I do it, is it legal? I read that it could fall under the "statute of frauds". Then, I also read that using a quitclaim deed  is how claim of rights are legally transferred from a party to another since I now have a financial interest in the parcel. Since these information are contradictory, I'd like to know: can I sell my interests legally with a quitclaim deed. 

I haven't heard from the owner on paper and I doubt I will but if somehow he was to reappear, can he sue me for selling my interests in the parcel? Is it civil or criminal? Thank you for your answer and your guidance. I find very little information on the subject, I contacted several real estate Attorneys and they did not have sufficient knowledge to advise me. In case someone on this forum is familiar with transferring such interests, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.  

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hi David, I just sent you a message.

 Yes you are absolutely right! I always do a full due diligence on the properties I buy, before purchasing them. I run a title search, I also check the appropriate court and county records to look for any additional liens such as mechanical liens, construction, municipality ect... I also double check that there is no mortgage and no assignment of mortgage ect.. ect... So when I know that the chain of title is clear... I buy! :-)

 Before making such statement, please know your market and have an intelligent answer.

 Thank you so much for your answer. The deeds in question are properly registered with Probate and they are valid. The reseller got it from the county and sold them to us. The chain of title is clear. The only thing the reseller told us is that he was going to the the tax assessor to submit the deeds for us but did not. The tax assessor said that we need to come in the office with the deed and an ID. Since I am out of state, it is a headache to go there just for that but if I go, I want to make sure that a copy of the quitclaim deed will be accepted. I contacted the tax assessor and I haven't heard from them yet. So in your experience, do you know if a copy of a deed is enough for the tax assessor? Thank you for your help, I sincerely appreciate it. 

Quitclaim deeds are deeds given by the county during tax deed sales. So they aren't worthless.

I am running into an issue and I can't find the answer to my question. I bought several land lots in Jefferson County from a reseller in Alabama and he sent me a copy the Quitclaim Deeds for each property, by email. He told me that he would also go to the tax assessor to record the deeds for me since I live out of state.  He never did. Here I am months later with my Quitclaim Deeds but my name has not been updated at the tax assessor, meaning my name is still not on the title since April 2023. I contacted the county but they told me that I need to come to their office with my ID. The issue I have, on the top of having to travel all the way to Birmingham while living in another state, will the county update the data with a copy of the Quitclaim Deed? The reseller kept the original and did not send it to me by mail and the icing on the cake is that this reseller does not answer my text message or email.  It drives me crazy! I appreciate all the support. Thank you.

In case of Adverse possession in Arizona, can someone who has lived in the property for over five years and paid all the taxes, file an affidavit of adverse possession with the county, without filing the quiet title action with the court? Will the county record the affidavit?  The attorney Mesh Clark Rothschild mentioned the following on one of his posts:

"Although a person’s possession or use may be sufficient to establish transfer of title by adverse possession or a prescriptive easement, the possessor can lose those acquired rights in the land if they do not timely take steps to establish and record their adverse possession or prescriptive easement."

So my question is: would an affidavit of adverse possession filed with the county validate the adverse possession?

Thank you for your help.

I bought several tax liens at Alabama auction and I understand that the process to get the title is to file a tax foreclosure action which, based on what the attorney Gregory Stanley is saying and unlike what many articles are mentioning, is a judicial process. So my questions are: 

Is it possible to avoid the foreclosure action at the end of the three years period, by continuing paying the taxes?

Would it  be legal to take over the property, without the foreclosure action?

Would it be legal to sign a quitclaim deed for the property in question, after the three years period and transfer the interests without the foreclosure action?

The reason why I am thinking out of the box is because Alabama tax sales department is a disaster. We bought a deed on April 2sd and we are still waiting for the deed. We submitted 60 different requests to purchase an OTC deeds or certificates early January 2023 and we never received a single quote. Clearly, they are understaffed and for investors, the process is unacceptable. So in order to avoid wasting time, I am thinking outside the box.

I purchased a land lot lately and thought it was a residential land lot in Fultondale AL.

After ordering a title search, I found out that the lot was classified as "vacant commercial lot" on the title search report. Then, when I went to the tax assessor's website, the same lot is labelled as class 2 "unused and undeveloped land". So much confusion... So the question is, which land use code should I take in consideration:

1 - The one advertised when the parcel was listed for sale.

2 - The one labeled in the title search report.

3 - The one listed on the tax assessor.

I even checked probate and no information can be found.  Thank you for all the help you can provide.