April 16, 2021 by Nesibe Selma
LSLA Military & Veterans Unit Helps Disabled Veteran Buy Back His House
Topic
Community Education
Mr. William Wright is an honorably discharged veteran who requires assistance from a roommate to get around. He contacted Lone Star Legal Aid to seek help to obtain the property he owned and had lived on for the past twenty years, which was sold at an auction in Liberty County as part of a tax foreclosure sale in March 2020. Though he fell behind, Mr. Wright had delivered consecutive payments from 2013 to 2017 and was preparing his payments for the remaining two years of 2018 and 2019. Mr. Wright never received any notice that his property was going to be auctioned off; he merely received notice for the payments he owed, which he had fulfilled by then and could provide receipts for. Mr. Wright owed a total of $3,000 in back taxes to the Dayton Independent School District; the property buyer purchased the property for $27,000, leaving $24,695.21 in excess proceeds to be deposited into the Court’s Registry. These proceeds would allow Mr. Wright to buy back his property, as is his right of redemption after a tax sale.
Mr. Wright has two years from the date of the sale to petition the Court to retrieve the excess proceeds; Lone Star Legal Aid’s Military and Veterans Unit (MVU) petitioned the Court to obtain the proceeds and the Judge signed the order in October 2020. MVU also helped Mr. Wright obtain the necessary documentation for an appeal bond and to waive court costs. Mr. Wright can now use the excess proceeds and additional funds to repurchase his property.
Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy on behalf of low-income and underserved populations. Lone Star Legal Aid serves the millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines that reside in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties of southwest Arkansas. Lone Star Legal Aid focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety and stability, health and well‐being; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those who have disabilities, or who are elderly, homeless, or have limited English language skills. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.lonestarlegal.org
Media Contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
