Services Offered
Louisiana Tax Sale Lawyers works with large, medium, and small tax sale investors. We provide the expertise needed to guide tax sale purchasers through the entire tax sale process from acquisition to quieting title to taking possession.
TAX SALE INVESTMENT ADVICE
Learn the risks and rewards of tax sale investing before you invest. Are you familiar with tax sale investing in Louisiana? Do you want a cash return or do you want to acquire properties? Do you understand the risks of buying less than a 100% tax sale interest?
POST-SALE NOTICING
The tax collector is supposed to send pre-sale and post-sale notices to all owners, lienholders, and other interested parties. Title companies require independent efforts to identify, locate, and notify interested parties. Louisiana Tax Sale Lawyers will work to cure defects in noticing that may prevent you from obtaining clear title to the property and title insurance. Louisiana Tax Sale Lawyers can provide forms and guidance if you want to do your own post-sale noticing, provide noticing for you, and/or refer you to people who specialize in tax sale noticing. Proper post-sale noticing is critical if you want to get a judgment quieting title and obtain title insurance.
NEGOTIATE WITH PROPERTY OWNERS AND OTHER TAX SALE INVESTORS
There are benefits to negotiating with owners, lienholders, and other interested parties, including other tax sale investors. Being a tax sale certificate holder gives you negotiating leverage because someone will eventually have to deal with your tax sale. Louisiana Tax Sale Lawyers can offer advice and guidance in buying and selling tax sale interests and in determining the best price to pay or accept to buy or sell a tax sale interest. We can suggest negotiating strategies and/or negotiate for you.
QUIETING TITLE AND OBTAINING TITLE INSURANCE
Louisiana Tax Sale Lawyers can handle quiet title actions from initial review of the abstract to notifying interested parties, filing suit, obtaining a judgment, recording a judgment, executing a judgment, and placing you in possession of the property. When quieting titles, Louisiana Tax Sale Lawyers focus on what title companies want, which is often more than the law requires.
DEFEND NULLITY ACTIONS
A tax debtor or other interested party who was not “duly notified” of the tax sale at least six months prior to expiration of the redemption period may have a cause of action to annul the tax sale. Nullity actions are usually filed in response to a quiet title action. Louisiana Tax Sale Lawyers will defend nullity actions.
PARTITION ACTIONS
If you have less than a 100% tax sale interest, you may need to have the property partitioned after you have quieted your title. This is usually filed with a quiet title action but can be filed separately. A partition may be by a private sale as agreed by the parties and/or ordered by the court. The property may be sold at a sheriff’s sale with the proceeds divided among the co-owners according to their percentage ownership interests. Partitions are available to all co-owners, whether or not the property was subject to a tax sale.
ACQUISITIVE PRESCRIPTION
You can obtain a judgment declaring you are the owner of a property (including a tax sale property) if you have possessed it for ten years under “just title” and began your possession in “good faith.” A tax sale deed or certificate is presumed to be just title. Good faith means you had no reason to believe your tax sale deed or certificate was invalid at the time you took possession.
You can obtain a judgment declaring you the owner of a property if you have possessed it continuously for thirty years. Just title and good faith are not required.