Posted on 07/18/2007 10:06:21 PM PDT by goldstategop
A "guardian angel" has paid off a disputed claim stemming from an unpaid $1.63 property tax bill, allowing a Louisiana couple to regain ownership of their home.
Kermit and Dolores Atwood
Kermit and Dolores Atwood of Slidell, La., have been given their home back, after a "guardian angel" paid off a disputed claim over an unpaid $1.63 property tax bill (Courtesy New Orleans Times-Picayune)
"I don't even know who to thank," Dolores Atwood told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "But I'm relieved and happy that this is finally over."
The couple's attorney, Gary Duplechain, told the newspaper Dolores and her husband, Kermit, again will own their home because of a businessman from St. Tammany Parish, who along with his partner volunteered to pay to settle the lawsuit that has clouded the home's title.
Dolores Atwood described their encounter with the Jamie Land Co. as "seven years of emotional hell."
(Story continues below)
According to the paper, the saga began in 1996 when the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office mailed a $1.63 property tax bill for the Atwoods' home in Slidell, La., a suburb of New Orleans.
Though the couple had never moved, the bill was returned to the sheriff's office, because their official address had changed due to a postal system revision.
The Atwoods learned of the nightmare in 2000 when they discovered their four-bedroom, two-bath home – which they had owned mortgage-free since 1968 – had been sold behind their backs in 1997 through a tax sale for the $1.63 in unpaid taxes, plus 10 cents interest and $125 in costs associated with the sale.
"The sheriff's office could have easily found us," Dolores Atwood said. "We're in the phone book. We didn't go anywhere. ... And we never thought about telling the assessor's office about our address change because we've never had to pay property taxes before."
She says the house previously was exempt from property taxes under the state's homestead provision, meaning there had never been any tax bill. But a new assessment had pushed the value assigned to the home above the exemption level by $100.
It appeared the Atwoods' troubles were over when Assessor Patricia Schwarz Core got the state Tax Commission to nullify the tax sale because the bill was mailed to a nonexistent address.
But in 2002, the family learned it couldn't sell the home because of pending litigation attached to the property's listing in courthouse records.
The Times-Picayune says the notice was placed on the property by Jamie Land Co., which had purchased the property rights from American Land Investments a month after American Land acquired it at the tax sale.
Jamie Land Co. also had sued the Atwoods and the Tax Commission to get the property shortly after the commission annulled the sale.
Duplechain said the businessman wants to remain anonymous but had discovered the couple's story and wanted to resolve it. The lawyer said the agreement calls for the settlement amount to remain a secret.
"But it wasn't a lot of money," Jamie Land Co. president James Lindsay II told the newspaper. "We've been willing to settle this thing all along."
Now the Atwoods can apply for various grants to help repair the home, which was damaged during Hurricane Katrina but previously did not qualify for help because of the clouded title.
The lawyer said the settlement provides for the lawsuit against the Atwoods and the Tax Commission to be dropped and for the land company to withdraw any claims to the couple's home.
Although the courts already had sided with the couple, the land company was pursuing an appeal, and Duplechain said it's always better to get a case resolved.
"I advised her to settle and she had no objections," Duplechain said. "She started crying when I told her about it. She's happy to get it over with it."
"Awesome!!!" wrote a reader on the Times-Picayune's online comment page. "A guardian angel in Slidell."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Any tax on any homestead is just plain old evil! As long as the mortgage gets paid, this land should be my land, and my childrens land, until Hell freezes over.
Amen!
Never vote for anyone who just happens to sell real estate on the side. Most of them would put their momma in a nursing home, just to sell off the house they grew up in!
Real estate agents are right next to lawyers, on my list, somewhere lower than Ho’s!
But the Mike Niforng type thieving politicians of Louisiana including Mayor Ray Nagin the chocolate mayor and governor Kathlene Blanco the senile governor are to corrupt.
Houston’s been in a world of sh** for 20 years because the real estate agents have been running a puppet master mayoral tenure. Even with term limits, Bob Lanier has hand picked his successors.
Billions have been spent on the holdings of the downtown crowd. And they say they still need more money to rejuvinate downtown (again).
They said our rail system “had” to go to the old train switching station. It didn’t and now goes only 8 blocks west of it. Then they said our new downtown ballpark “had” to go into the old train switching station (which it did).
Seems a lot of “had to”s going on.
And we’ve had cases of homes stolen from the elderly here too. Nothing negligent about it. It is a deliberate crooked scheme.
“Real estate agents are right next to lawyers, on my list, somewhere lower than Ho’s!”
Mine, too; along with senators, congressmen, and state reps. And waaaay above the ho’s.
bttt
Sorry; that should read “waaaay BELOW the ho’s.”
It would also help if those who owned no property were not allowed to vote on putting leans on other people's property.
People just have to decide if say having a fire department is worth the cost.
LOL It was funnier the first time. ;)
Tomorrow’s headline: Atwood Home Taken Over in Eminent Domain.
Scuse, me. I am a good real estate agent that does not have that problem : )
There is no property ownership in America. They paid off the mortgage, but they still didn’t own the property. This case illustrates that fact as well as any I’ve seen. Government rent should be eliminated from coast to coast.
Roger that! I believe that's the way The Founders" originally provided.
"People just have to decide if say having a fire department is worth the cost."
In my area, the local governments squander general fund monies for vote-buying nonsense, and then threaten us with losing services like Fire, Medic-One etc. if we don't vote for additional taxes. We let them get away with it every time.
It would also help if people who did not pay property taxes,e.g. renters, were not allowed to send their kids to the local school and were barred from voting in local elections. You’d see a change in taxation pretty quick.
Curses on Jamie Land Co.
It’s difficult to think clearly at two o’clock in the morning, but I still can’t figure out which one I meant.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.