Posted on Apr 27, 2023
Supreme Court seems to tilt strongly toward grandmother in property rights case
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https://www.npr.org/2023/04/26/ [login to see] /supreme-court-condo-taxes
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard its last scheduled argument of the term — a case brought by a 94-year-old widowed grandmother in Minneapolis whose condominium was seized for failure to pay property taxes. Unsurprisingly, it looked like grandma will win.
The case is important because Minnesota is one of 20 states that handle the sale of such defaulted properties without sharing the proceeds with the previous owner when the property is sold.
Geraldine Tyler bought her condo in 1999 and lived there until 2010 when, at age 81, she moved to a senior living center at the urging of her children. It is undisputed that she failed to pay property taxes on the condo for five years, despite being repeatedly notified that she risked losing it if she didn't pay up. By 2015, she owed $15,000 in unpaid taxes, interest and fees.
Finally, the county, after offering her a tax payment plan for seniors and other options, seized the condo and sold it at public auction for $40,000.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard its last scheduled argument of the term — a case brought by a 94-year-old widowed grandmother in Minneapolis whose condominium was seized for failure to pay property taxes. Unsurprisingly, it looked like grandma will win.
The case is important because Minnesota is one of 20 states that handle the sale of such defaulted properties without sharing the proceeds with the previous owner when the property is sold.
Geraldine Tyler bought her condo in 1999 and lived there until 2010 when, at age 81, she moved to a senior living center at the urging of her children. It is undisputed that she failed to pay property taxes on the condo for five years, despite being repeatedly notified that she risked losing it if she didn't pay up. By 2015, she owed $15,000 in unpaid taxes, interest and fees.
Finally, the county, after offering her a tax payment plan for seniors and other options, seized the condo and sold it at public auction for $40,000.
Supreme Court seems to tilt strongly toward grandmother in property rights case
Posted from npr.org
Supreme Court
Minneapolis
Taxes
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 1
I guess my real question would be regarding this - what if state law did NOT cancel the outstanding debts on the property and she was still held responsible or if it was modified so that any excess to pay off the state's debt is used proportionally to pay off outstanding debts and any surplus after that goes to the individual it was seized from.
However, that is a hypothetical since the state law DOES cancel her outstanding debts. As such, there is an excess of monies beyond the debt incurred.
It's likely that the debt forgiveness law was put in place so people didn't have to declare bankruptcy in order to discharge outstanding debts on the property (many were put in place during the housing crisis for just that reason) and the legislators didn't anticipate a scenario like this.
Sounds like Minnesota will likely lose this round and should address some fixes in the law if they don't want a repeat. Modify it so that all excess first goes to paying off existing debts and the remainder is then given to the original owner or if there is still debt after all proceeds are gone, the the debt is forgiven.
However, that is a hypothetical since the state law DOES cancel her outstanding debts. As such, there is an excess of monies beyond the debt incurred.
It's likely that the debt forgiveness law was put in place so people didn't have to declare bankruptcy in order to discharge outstanding debts on the property (many were put in place during the housing crisis for just that reason) and the legislators didn't anticipate a scenario like this.
Sounds like Minnesota will likely lose this round and should address some fixes in the law if they don't want a repeat. Modify it so that all excess first goes to paying off existing debts and the remainder is then given to the original owner or if there is still debt after all proceeds are gone, the the debt is forgiven.
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