Posted: 10/15/2024 4:14:27 AM EDT
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Had a thread going in GD but thought I’d try here. I fell behind in my property tax last year when I became unemployed. I’ve been working like crazy trying to get caught up , savings were wiped out. In June I got a notice that my tax debt had been bought by a collection agency. I’ve been socking away a little each week and had just enough to pay the taxes. Got a letter in the 4th of October. Foreclosure. House/land will be sold at auction Nov. 4th. Taxes are app $2400, but ‘legal and litigation fees’ are an additional $6400. I don’t have the money. A member here says he’s got a colleague who is a Kentucky attorney and he’d look into it—that was Friday. He hasn’t answered PM’s and I’m a little (a lot) freaked out. I called Legal Aid if the Bluegrass, the Kentucky legal aid, but they said they’d have a lawyer call me back, and again, nothing. I’ll call them again this morning. I only make about $600/week after taxes. Single dad, one daughter with me full time, two daughters 50/50 custody with the ex. Trying to satisfy the divorce, agreed to buy my wife’s half of the house from her, or else sell the house and split it with her. I agreed to pay taxes etc while I’m living in the house. If I lose the house she’ll sue me for her half of the value. I have enough $ to pay the taxes, but not the legal fees, although right now I’m scrabbling to try and get the additional amount together. Where else can I get some legal help stopping the foreclosure? I’m broke, my divorce and unemployment wiped me out, I could make payments but right now I need to stop the foreclosure. |
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Foreclosure over taxes? Not just a lien? That's crazy. Have you tried reaching out to a state senator or representative for some additional clout. Single Dad trying to make ends meet is a good fight to take on. I'd show up at the town/ county office with your tax bill and a video camera and try to pay your bill. Better yet, involve the local news or threaten to do so. Force them to take your money or be the bad guy in front of the world. KY Rev Stat § 91.487, (5) says: Any person interested in or the owner of any tract of land or lot contained in the records of delinquent land and lots in the collector's office may release such tract of land or lot, or any part thereof, from such city's lien thereon, by paying the taxes due the collector, together with interest from the date of delinquency. I would pay them the taxes and argue that by paying it stops the action. Paragraph 6 does say: If suit shall have been commenced against any tract of land or lot for the collection of taxes, the person desiring to have the land released before judgment, in addition to the original taxes, interest and cost including attorneys' fees, shall pay to the collector all necessary costs incurred in the court where the suit is pending, and the collector shall account to the clerk of the court in which the suit is filed for the court costs so collected. That says you still owe the other fees but, as a separate and independent paragraph, the statute separates it from the requirements for satisfying the tax debt. Thus, you still have to pay it but the shouldn't be able to foreclose over it. There's no guarantee anyone else will see it the way I do but I would argue it that way. Not a lawyer. |
| In this state you can show up anytime before the auction and pay off the taxes and they have to stop the foreclosure. My buddy has had his farm almost go to auction twice in the last couple years, signs up and posted. I don't know if he owes the collection fees still but he is still there. |
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Have you contacted the municipality that put the tax lien on the property to talk to them? In Missouri you have 2-3 years to get caught up before they foreclosure and auction. Something doesn’t seem right with what your saying for me Edit: I looked at tn no ky. https://revenue.ky.gov/Property/Pages/Delinquent-Property-Tax.aspx Looks like there is interest occurred on the government level and a sale initiated around this time. That’s crazy fast. |
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Originally Posted By LittleAugieMo: Contact State/County whom you actually owe taxes to. This smells like a scam to me.....if no other reason the "amount" that is being claimed for "legal services" ($6400-6800) seems "scam excessive" good luck. A collection agency is new information that was not included in the other thread. I wondered about that legal fees business. It's past time to call the county collector to discuss this letter. And make a small payment toward the tax bill. Then put the place up for sale. https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Trying-to-save-my-house-home-at-my-wits-end-/5-2752981/ |
Keep your powder dry, and watch your back trail.
| State senator, which Congressional district or your state Senators( Paul). You don’t need a Congress critter call, the office/staff is fine. Your ask is to get 90 day reprieve to get things squared away. Cars, guns, 401k, etc to raise the funds? |
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Can you afford to take the day off tomorrow to go to legal aid of bluegrass in person? Can you reach out to another attorney for help? They might be willing to help with a payment plan, especially if it includes selling the property as part of the long term goal. Sorry you're going through this. Is bankruptcy an option? You could immediately stop paying for anything else you owe on, and pour that money into the taxes. BK won't go after your house, but the taxes are still on you. I see this as an option depending on how much other payments you have at the moment, but it might be too late to actually divert enough funds from other payments to the taxes. Fwiw I contacted a congressman in my state once. I was was a different situatio, but I was being sued for collections on a debt that shouldn't have been mine. Long story short it involved a hospital and the VA. The staff at the congressman's office was very receptive and polite. The young man called me back the next day with a solution, handled everything for me, and I received a letter in the mail from the congressman about a month after letting me know it was taken care of. This is something you should do regardless! Do you have anyone you can borrow money from? Including your ex wife?? Good luck. |
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Make your own Tac-Sling!
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Make your own Tac-Sling!
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A great first step is to decide whether your income is $3250 (page 2, linked thread), $2600, or $2400 per month. I think there's a $19 per hour wage in there, too. Have you talked to to anyone in the collectors office at the county courthouse? |
Keep your powder dry, and watch your back trail.
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Originally Posted By Justintime2: Another attempt to get money after your other thread was shut down for seeking similar… I’m not asking for money. I’m trying to get legal aid. As to my salary, I make $19/hr Legal aid said that means I take home $3200/month. Maybe that’s my gross. But my biweekly checks have a net of $1320 after taxes. Again, trying to find a lawyer. Legal Aid says I make too much money (plus I’m a white male. If I was a woman I think they’d be all over this). It’s frustrating, a friend of mine makes almost twice what I make and Legal Aid of Bluegrass helped him. With some legal issues no problem. I’m not scamming, I’m desperately trying to keep my home from being foreclosed. I’m going to talk to my boss and see if I can take Thursday off. |
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Read the last line - https://revenue.ky.gov/Property/Pages/Delinquent-Property-Tax.aspx https://revenue.ky.gov/Property/Pages/Delinquent-Property-Tax.aspx Delinquent Property Tax At the close of business on April 15th, the tax bills are transferred from the sheriff's office to the county clerk's office. They are then known as a certificate of delinquency and represent a lien against the property in question. Interest begins to accrue on the total due at the rate of 1% per month. A 10% county clerk fee and a 20% county attorney fee are also added to the total due. The county attorney is required to send a notice by May 15th to the delinquent taxpayers and, if necessary, another notice is sent by June 15th. Delinquent taxpayers can enter into installment payment plans with the county attorney at this time. Beginning in mid-July, county clerks offer the certificates of delinquency for sale to third party purchasers. These sales run through the latter part of October with the majority of sales taking place from mid-July through the end of August. The specifics about each county's sale, along with a listing of each certificate of delinquency, are required to be advertised in the local newspaper at least 30 days prior to the tax sale date. The certificates of delinquency are also listed on the county clerk's website at least 30 days prior to the sale. If a certificate of delinquency is sold to a third party purchaser, the property owner must then work with the third party to arrange for payment of the delinquency. There will be substantial additional fees that will be applied to the total due by the third party purchaser. An installment payment plan can be requested of a third party purchaser. |
Keep your powder dry, and watch your back trail.
| Are Legal Aid of the Bluegrass legit about helping? A friend recommended them, he said they totally stepped up and helped him. I’ve been talking to them since last Thursday (ten days ago) but they have only called me back once (after eight days of me calling and talking to various ‘advisors’, yesterday (18th) they finally called me and said a lawyer would call me. |
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Legal Aid has been the most apathetic, unhelpful, frankly incompetent group I’ve ever dealt with. For almost two weeks they’ve been telling me I have options, they can help, etc. this morning my attorney called and said ‘I called (the lien company’s) attorneys and asked if you can make a partial patent and they said no, only payment in full before Nov 4 or they will ask for (and receive) summary judgement to seize and sell the property. So I don’t know what else to do. I have about $3500 and can’t get a loan or sell anything else in time to raise enough to pay the full amount (total about $8600) by Monday. I asked if there was any way to delay this so I could try and scrounge enough to pay them off and my atty said no, she has no idea what else I could do. She sounds like she’s on Valium. She doesn’t give a shit. I don’t know what else to do. In full panic mode. Don’t know what I’m gonna tell my kids. I know it’s all my fault. |
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Originally Posted By Homesteader375: It might be painful but maybe call your ex? Explain the situation and that you are going to sell and square it with her if she's in a place to help. That way she doesn't lose her half too. TALK TO YOUR EX. She owns half that property and deserves to know what's going on. She can probably come up with $6k to save her $120k. Pay the back taxes then both of you sign up with a realtor to get the property sold. Ex gets $120k plus her part of the taxes paid out of the proceeds You obviously can't afford this place and it's killing you. |
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I accepted that I’m gonna have to sell. Trying to keep from losing it so I can at least sell it and we can both have some financial benefit. Ex is absolutely out of money (she lost her home in a fire Sept 13th). Her insurance is not the huge windfall she and the new husband thought it would be. I’m discussing selling the house with her, hoping to get some problems solved. I’m really upset at the lackadaisical way Legal Aid has puttered along telling me they can help without actually accomplishing anything. |
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Originally Posted By RevolverRO: I accepted that I’m gonna have to sell. Trying to keep from losing it so I can at least sell it and we can both have some financial benefit. Ex is absolutely out of money (she lost her home in a fire Sept 13th). Her insurance is not the huge windfall she and the new husband thought it would be. I’m discussing selling the house with her, hoping to get some problems solved. I’m really upset at the lackadaisical way Legal Aid has puttered along telling me they can help without actually accomplishing anything. You are out of time to sell. File bankruptcy. There's no way you can sell the house in 5 days. |
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Originally Posted By Homesteader375: You are out of time to sell. File bankruptcy. There's no way you can sell the house in 5 days. This is what I lean towards. You can do the filing pro se, on your own at the federal court house. As long as you list the house as an asset, the bankruptcy freeze for the foreclosure is immediate and completely effective. If there is already and pending foreclosure, you'll want to file a notice of bankruptcy in that court. Nothing special, just something that says there is a bankruptcy pending. Fed law requires the state court to stop proceedings immediately. Any efforts to collect after the bankruptcy case has been filed are a violation of federal law by the creditor. Not your lawyer, just a guy that has messed around in bankruptcy court a bit chasing deadbeats. |
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The lien company was given the go-ahead to proceed with an auction, but the auction itself has not yet happened. We’ve spoken with the lien company’s attorney and they are willing to release the lien if we can pay the fees. Right now the primary goal is to make this happen, then I can keep the property or sell it now or at a later date. Primary focus is paying off the lien so I don’t have to worry about losing the property. |
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Originally Posted By deerranger: In this state you can show up anytime before the auction and pay off the taxes and they have to stop the foreclosure. My buddy has had his farm almost go to auction twice in the last couple years, signs up and posted. I don't know if he owes the collection fees still but he is still there. That is very close! Twice almost gone to auction? Man! |
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Originally Posted By RevolverRO: The lien company was given the go-ahead to proceed with an auction, but the auction itself has not yet happened. We’ve spoken with the lien company’s attorney and they are willing to release the lien if we can pay the fees. Right now the primary goal is to make this happen, then I can keep the property or sell it now or at a later date. Primary focus is paying off the lien so I don’t have to worry about losing the property. Don’t take this the wrong way. But I’ve been asking myself this question since you started this thread. Let’s say you manage to pay the fees and the back taxes and get up today. Are you going to able to pay the taxes in a month or two or is this whole process going to start over? |
| Yeah. Taxes (by Dec 31st) are around $1400. I can bite the bullet and sacrifice two weeks pay. It wasn’t doable last year when I was unemployed, it literally doubled to almost $2400 with late fees/interest, then the lien company threw $6600 in legal fees on top of it. |