Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 133

NEW CASTLE COUNTY PROVIDING ADDITIONAL METHOD AND AUTHORITY FOR COLLECTING TAXES

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 45 OF THE REVISED CODE OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, 1935, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "COUNTY TREASURERS AND COLLECTION OF TAXES", TO PROVIDE FOR AN ADDITIONAL METHOD AND AUTHORITY FOR COLLECTING TAXES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. That Chapter 45 of the Revised Code of Delaware, as amended, be and the same is hereby further amended by enacting and adding to Article 1 thereof a new section to be known and styled as follows, to-wit:

1381A. Sec. 41A. Additional Method and Authority for Collecting Taxes; Filing of Praecipe; Record Thereof; Monition to Issue; Form of; Copy to be Posted; Sale of Property:--In addition to all existing methods and authority for the collection of taxes due to the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County and/or former County Tax Collectors or former Receivers of Taxes and County Treasurers of New Castle County, the following method and authority is hereby established;

The Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County may file, or cause to be filed by the Collector of Delinquent Taxes for New Castle County, a Praecipe in the office of the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, in and for New Castle County, which Praecipe shall contain the name of the person against whom the taxes- sought to be collected were assessed, and a copy of the bill or bills showing the amount of taxes due and the property against which said taxes were assessed, and the description of the property as the same appears upon the assessment rolls prepared by the Board of Assessment of New Castle County, shall be a sufficient identification and description of said property. Thereupon the said Prothonotary shall make a record of the same on a special Judgment Docket of said Superior Court against the property mentioned or described in said Praecipe which said record shall consist of the following:

The name of the person in whose name the assessment was made:

The description of the property as the same shall appear upon the assessment rolls as prepared by the Board of Assessment of New Castle County.

The year or years for which said taxes are due and payable.

The date of the filing of such Praecipe.

The amount of the judgment, the same being the amount set forth in said Praecipe.

Such judgment shall be indexed in the Judgment Docket itself under the Hundred in which said property is located as said location appears upon the assessment rolls prepared as aforesaid, and under said Hundred by Communities where the name of said Community appears upon the assessment rolls prepared as aforesaid, and by referring to the page in said Judgment Docket whereon the record aforesaid shall appear. Thereafter upon a Praecipe for monition filed in the office of the said Prothonotary by the Collector of Delinquent Taxes for New Castle County, on behalf of the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County, a monition shall be issued by the Prothonotary aforesaid to the Sheriff of New Castle County, which monition shall briefly state the amount of the judgment for the taxes due and the years thereof, together with a brief description of the property upon which said taxes are a lien, and a description of such property as same shall appear upon the assessment rolls prepared as aforesaid shall be a sufficient description. Said monition shall be in substantially the following form:

To all persons having or claiming to have any title, interest or lien upon the within described premises, take warning that unless the judgment for the taxes or assessment stated herein is paid within twenty days after the date hereof or within such period of twenty days, evidence of the payment of taxes herein claimed shall be filed in the office of the Prothonotary, which evidence shall be in the form of a receipted tax bill or duplicate thereof, bearing date prior to the filing of the lien in the office of the Prothonotary for New Castle County, the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle 'County or the Collector of Delinquent Taxes for New Castle County on his behalf may proceed to sell the property herein mentioned or described for the purpose of collecting the judgment for the taxes or assessments herein stated.

Said Monition, or a copy thereof, shall be posted by the Sheriff upon some prominent place or part of the property against which said judgment for the taxes or assessment is a lien, and the Sheriff shall make due and proper return of his proceedings under said Monition to said Prothonotary, within ten days after the posting of said Monition as aforesaid.

Alias or pluries Monition may issue upon like Praecipe. The posting of said notice as herein required shall constitute notice to the owner or owners and all persons having any interest in said property.

At any time after the expiration of twenty days next following the return of the Sheriff upon such Monition, unless before the expiration of said twenty days the said Judgment and cost on said Judgment shall be paid or evidence of the payment of such taxes evidenced by a receipted tax bill or a duplicate thereof bearing date therefor prior to the filing of said lien for record in the office of the Prothonotary as aforesaid, upon application in writing by the Collector of Delinquent Taxes for New Castle County on behalf of the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle. County, a writ of Venditioni Exponas shall issue out of the office of the said Prothonotary directed to the Sheriff commanding the Sheriff to sell the property mentioned or described in said writ and make due return of his proceedings thereunder in the same manner as is now applicable with respect to similar writs of Venditioni Exponas issued out of the said Superior Court. The property shall be described in said writ under the description thereof as it appears on the assessment rolls prepared by the Assessment Board of New Castle County and by metes and bounds where obtainable, but nothing herein contained shall be construed to invalidate a writ or a sale pursuant thereto containing only the description as it appears on the assessment rolls prepared as aforesaid, or a writ bearing only a description by metes and bounds.

Said writ shall be substantially in the following form: NEW CASTLE COUNTY, SS.

The State of Delaware.

TO THE SHERIFF OF NEW CASTLE COUNTY,

GREETINGS:

WHEREAS, by a Monition issued out of the Superior Court dated at Wilmington, the __________ day of ________ A. D. 19__. IT WAS COMMANDED, that you should post the said Monition or copy thereof upon the real estate therein mentioned and described, and make a return to the said Superior Court within ten days after said posting.

That on the _______ day of ________A. D. 19___, you returned that a copy of the said Monition was posted on the real estate therein mentioned and described on the _______ day of _____ A. D. 19__ .

We therefore now command you to expose to public sale, the real estate mentioned and described in said Monition as follows:

and that you should cause to be made as well a certain debt of ____ Dollars ($_____) lawful money of the United States, which to the said Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County, is due and owing, as also the sum of _____ Dollars ($_____) lawful money as aforesaid, for its costs, which it has sustained by the detaining of that debt, whereof the said ________ was convicted as it appears of record and against which said property it is a lien:

And have you that money before the Judges of our Superior Court at Wilmington, on Monday the day of Next, to render to the said Receiver. of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County as aforesaid, for its debt and costs as aforesaid, and this writ:

WITNESSETH, the Honorable ________ at Wilmington, the ____ day of _____ A. D. .

____________________

Prothonotary.

Issued: _______

The description contained in such Monition shall be a sufficient description of the real estate to be sold under said writ:

Sec. 41B. Title of Property Sold; Owner May Redeem, When; When Owner Fails to Redeem; Petition to Court; Sale by Sheriff; Return of Proceedings:--Any real estate or interest therein sold under the provisions hereof shall vest in the purchaser all the right, title and interest of the person in whose name said property was assessed, and/or all right, title and interest of the person or persons who are the owners thereof, and likewise freed and discharged from any dower or courtesy or statutory right, in the nature of a dower or courtesy, whether absolute or inchoate, in or to said real estate.

The owner of any such real estate sold under the provisions of this act or his legal 'representatives may redeem the same at any time within one year from the day the sale thereof is approved by the Court, by paying to the purchaser or his legal representatives, successors or assigns, the amount of the purchase price and fifteen per cent in addition thereto, together with all costs incurred in the cause; or if the purchaser or his legal representatives, successors or assigns shall refuse to receive the same, or do not reside or cannot be found within the County of New Castle, by paying said amount into said Court for the use of said purchaser, his legal representatives or assigns.

In the event that the owner of said property or his legal representatives shall fail to redeem said property as herein provided, the purchaser of said property or his legal representatives, successors or assigns may present a Petition to the Superior Court setting forth the appropriate facts in conformity with this act and pray that the said Superior Court make an order directing the Sheriff, then in office, to execute, acknowledge and deliver a deed conveying the title to said property to the Petitioner; and thereupon the said Superior Court shall have power, after a hearing upon said Petition, to issue an order directing the Sheriff to execute, acknowledge and deliver a deed as prayed for in said Petition, and a description of said property as the same shall appear upon the assessment rolls prepared by the Board of Assessment of New Castle County, and a description by metes and bounds where obtainable shall be a sufficient description in any such deed.

If the owner of any real estate sold under an order of sale or his legal representative shall redeem said real estate, he may prefer to said Superior Court a Petition setting forth that fact and thereupon the said Superior Court, after hearing and determining the facts set forth in said Petition, the said Superior Court shall have power to cause to be entered upon the record of the Judgment, under which said real estate was sold, a memorandum that the real estate described in the proceedings upon which said Judgment was entered has been redeemed and thereafter the said owner shall hold such redeemed real estate subject to the same liens and in the same order of priority as they existed at the time of the sale thereof, excepting so far as the said liens have been discharged or reduced by the application of the proceeds by the said Sheriff from the said sale.

Upon the return of the proceedings under said writ of Venditioni Exponas, the Superior Court may inquire into the regularity of the proceedings thereunder, and either approve the sale or set it aside.

Sec. 41C. No Proceedings Unless Tax is a Lien Upon Property; Superior Court When Mentioned Means Any Judge Thereof:--No proceedings shall be brought under this act unless the tax or assessment sought to be collected hereunder shall at the time of the filing of said Praecipe in the office of the Prothonotary be and constitute a lien upon the property against which the tax or assessment was assessed or laid. Whenever the Superior Court is mentioned in this statute, the same shall be held to embrace the Judges or any Judge thereof, and any act required or authorized to be done under this act may be clone by the said Superior Court or any Judge thereof in vacation thereof, as well as in term time.

Sec. 41D. Fees and Costs:--The fees and costs to be taxed in all proceedings under this act where not otherwise provided for, shall be as follows:

The following fees shall be charged by the Prothonotary:

Filing Praecipe $ 1.10

Issuing Monition and copy 2.75

Issuing Alias or Pluries, Monition and copy 2.75

Writ of Venditioni Exponas 2.25

Filing any Petition in Superior Court under this Act 1.00

Costs of paying money into Superior Court 1.00

Costs of paying money out of Superior Court for each check drawn 1.00

The following fees shall be charged by the Sheriff:

Posting Monition or copy thereof .75

Posting each -Alias or Pluries, Monition or copy thereof .75

The following fees shall be charged by the Collector of Delinquent Taxes for New Castle County:

For preparing description by metes and bounds of liened property 10.00

All other charges not, covered by this act shall be the same as are now provided by law.

Sec. 41E. Former County Tax Collectors Discharged; When:--Upon the starting of suit under this act as hereinbef ore provided by the current Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County, or the Delinquent Tax Collector of New Castle County, on his behalf for the use of a former County Tax Collector or a former Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County, said former County Tax Collector or former Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer of New Castle County shall be discharged of his bond for all taxes for which said suit is brought.

Approved April 3, 1947.