There is a small tract of land near my family's home that I found doing online research. I am interested in acquiring said piece of land but there are a few problems.

-Owner of property is deceased as of several years ago
-Title has yet to be transferred to an estate or spouse
-Property taxes are delinquent

I surmise that the owner passed away and the family forgot about the property.

A letter was sent to the spouse, but no response was received.

Is there another course of action to take?

You could run a title search to see who owns the property. Depending on the title search, you will have to work to get the property parties under contract to sale the property to you and work through clearing title issues with the title company. It will likely take time and several hoops to jump through, but it can be done. Let me know if you need help.

Agilaw said:

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You could run a title search to see who owns the property. Depending on the title search, you will have to work to get the property parties under contract to sale the property to you and work through clearing title issues with the title company. It will likely take time and several hoops to jump through, but it can be done. Let me know if you need help.

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The owner per the county appraisal district is the person who is deceased.

I did a county records search and found no other information about a transfer of ownership.

I believe no action has taken place since they passed away.

If taxes are delinquent, couldn't you talk to county tax office and see what your options might be? Seems they would've tried, or have an address where they would've sent notices? Yes, I realize deceased is listed owner. But one would think the tax office MIGHT do a little work to get taxes paid.

The spouse still lives at the home where the deceased resided. Or at least owns the home per county records.

So I imagine she would have received notices about past due taxes on the land.

I am sure there is more to the story where the internet cannot provide answers.

Reach out to the law firm that collects delinquent property taxes in your county/school district. The county/school district tax office should be able to tell you who that is. If there is a decent amount of taxes owed and/or it is a decently valuable piece of property, let them know that you want to buy it because it is adjacent your family's land. If the law firm knows that they've got a guaranteed buyer, they may be more likely to go through the process to foreclose on the property and put it up for tax auction. Then you've got to make sure you've got the cash on hand to win an auction for the property on the courthouse steps.

Howdy! I have read about some of the challenges you are facing about acquiring this piece of property next to you. While it sounds like it will take some legal action to determine the owners of the property, I would love the opportunity to assist you with your land acquisition process. I suggest that you contact your lawyer for the legal questions. My name is Chris Collins and I am a land specialist for Ruple Ranch and Land, a premier ranch and land brokerage for the state of Texas. Let me if there is anything I can do to help.

Thanks
Chris Collins
chris@rupleproperties.com
512-670-6584

Texas Law requires all real estate licensees to give the following information about brokerage services: IABS