Southside Community Development Corp. ex rel. Galloway v. White

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court held that a tax purchaser's three-year adverse-possession period under Alabama Code § 40-10-82 begins when the purchaser becomes entitled to demand a tax deed, and applies even when the property is purchased from the State. Because Jeffrey White brought his quiet-title action less than three years after receiving the tax deed, the action was premature. The court reversed the judgment quieting title in White and remanded the case.

Holdings

1. The three-year period begins when the tax purchaser becomes entitled to demand a deed, not when the State takes the property for unpaid taxes.
2. A tax-deed purchaser may not obtain title quieted in the purchaser before the owner's right of redemption has been extinguished through the required three-year period of adverse possession.
3. Almon does not establish that a tax purchaser may bring a quiet-title action before expiration of the three-year period under § 40-10-82.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the three-year period under Ala. Code § 40-10-82 begins when property is transferred to the State for failure to pay taxes or when the tax purchaser becomes entitled to demand a deed.
2. Whether a tax-deed purchaser may bring an action to quiet title before the three-year statutory period has elapsed when the record owner is not in possession and the purchaser acquired title from the State.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded