Mississippi Advisory Opinions September 19, 1986: 19860919 (September 19, 1986)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Joe Moore

Chancery Clerk

Holmes County

Post Office Box 239

Lexington, Mississippi 39095

Dear Mr. Moore:

Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your request for an opinion of this office and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Question Number 1 which deals with Mississippi Code, Annotated, Section 29-1-29, is the statute by which a tax sale may be invalidated before it is reported to the Secretary of State's Office during the redemptive period. It should be noted that any situation which you feel is a candidate for strikeoff by the Attorney General's Office should be taken on a case by case basis, and as stated in said section, the Attorney General will make an investigation into the subject matter. However, the questions which you listed in your letter can be answered on a theoretical basis as follows:

Question No. 1. A. Is a tax sale valid which has the following description:

“Assessed to John Doe, Parcel No. 1230001, Part of Lot 20 in the Town of Tchula with there being several parcels constituting the whole of said Lot 20.”

Where the description aided by other legal references is sufficient to identify the land, it would constitute a sufficient legal description and this would then be a question of fact in each case. ( See case of Miller v. Fulliwiley , 192 Miss. 846, 7 So.2d 799 (1942) and Carr v. Barton , 173 Miss. 662, 162 So. 172 (1935)).

“1.B. A parcel of land sold to the State, with a definite description, and properly listed on the tax collector's list of land sold for delinquent taxes, but which was omitted from the tax collector's advertisement of lands to be sold as required by Miss.Code Section 27-41-55 . (Supplement 1985).”

Under Section 27-41-59 of the Mississippi Code (Supplement 1985), the sale is valid since it is stated in said Section that “neither the failure to advertise, nor error in the advertisement nor error in conducting the sale, shall invalidate the sale at the proper time and place for taxes of any land on which the taxes were due and not paid.” Therefore, this sale would be a valid sale.

“Question No. 1.C. A parcel of land sold to the State, with a definite description, but which was erroneously assessed on the land roll to an individual, and which should have been assessed to a tax exempt entity, e.g. Shady Grove Baptist Church.”

Since a religious society, or ecclesiastical body or any congregation thereof is tax exempted by Mississippi Code Section 27-31-1(d), the Shady Grove Baptist Church would be eligible to apply for a strikeoff if the Chancery Clerk notifies the Secretary of State's Office that it was improperly assessed.

“Question No. 2: If, during the period of redemption (two years from the date of a tax sale), the chancery clerk reports to the Attorney General a tract of land sold to the state for delinquent taxes, the validity of which is in doubt, and the Attorney General notifies the clerk that the sale of said land is void, may the clerk strike such land from the list of lands sold to the state, and if so, what would a proper notation on the record in the clerk's office?”

If the clerk reports to the Attorney General a tract of land and in the Attorney General's review of the tract finds that the validity of the tract sold is in doubt, the Attorney General may notify, through Section 29-1-29 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, the chancery clerk that the property should be stricken. The notation would be proper to state that “stricken as per Attorney General's Office and the date.” The clerk should then report the land to the Tax Assessor for a new assessment or for resale.

“Question No. 3: If the Attorney General notifies the clerk that a sale of land sold to the state for delinquent taxes is void, and before the date that the clerk is required to send the notice to owners, as required by § 27-43-1, the clerk strikes such land from the list of lands sold to the state, would the clerk still be required to send said notice to the reputed owner?”

Since the sale has been stricken and is of no force and effect, the notice would not be required.

Very truly yours,

Edwin Lloyd Pittman Attorney General.

Kathy D. Sones Special Assistant Attorney General.