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Tax deeds are a heavily litigated area of law in Florida, with important due process implications.  The following is a brief summary of a few Florida statutes and case law generally applicable to the narrow issue of notice requirement of the issuance of a tax deed to those with an interest in the property and the effect of the issuance of a tax deed on inferior liens.

Notice:  (1) The County Tax Collector identifies persons entitled to notice and (2) the Clerk of Court sends notice to those persons by certified mail return receipt requested.

Tax Deeds

Fla. Stat. § 197.552:

• Issuance of tax deed wipes out all inferior liens.
• Deed is prima facie evidence of the regularity of all proceedings from the valuation of land to the issuance of the deed.

Fla. Stat. § 197.502(4):

• Requires notice to lienholder prior to tax sale if the recorded lien contains the address of the lienholder.

Fla. Stat. § 197.522:

• (1)(a): Requires clerk to provide notice by certified mail with return receipt requested to the persons listed in the tax collector’s statement, if the statement contains their address, that an application for a tax deed has been made.
• (d): “The failure of anyone to receive notice as provided herein shall not affect the validity of the tax deed issued pursuant to the notice.”

Case law:

Jones v. Flowers, 547 U.S. 220 (2006) – US Supreme Court held: (1) When mailed notice of tax sale is returned unclaimed, state, as a matter of due process, must take additional reasonable steps to attempt to provide notice to property owner before selling property if practicable to do so; and (2) steps which state took after being alerted to fact that notice had not been delivered, in proceeding with sale after simply publishing notice in newspaper a few weeks prior thereto, without ever posting notice at address to which notice was sent or taking other measures reasonably available to alert taxpayer of sale, were insufficient to satisfy taxpayer’s 14^th Amendment due process rights.

Further stating:

• Before state may take property and sell it for unpaid taxes, the 14^th Amendment requires government to provide owner with notice and opportunity for hearing.
• Due process does not require that property owner receive actual notice before government may take his property; rather, due process requires only that government provide notice reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of pendency of action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections.
• When notice is required as matter of due process, means employed to provide that notice must be such as one desirous of actually informing the absentee might reasonably adopt to accomplish it.

Vosilla v. Rosado, 944 So.2d 289 (Fla. 2006) – Florida Supreme Court holding and rationale in line with case above (this case cites the case above).

Also stating:

• 197.522(1) meets constitutional due process requirements by mandating notice reasonably calculated to apprise landowners of pending deprivation of their property.
• The failure of anyone to receive notice as provided in § 197.522(1) does not affect the validity of the tax deed as long as the clerk complies with the notice requirements of subsection (1).

Based on the above, it seems the standard is that sending the notice as stated in the statute is sufficient for due process requirements regardless of actual notice unless the clerk knows or should know that the intended party did not receive the notice.  Then the clerk would be required to take additional steps.  If you are presented with a tax deed issue on property you own or on which you have a lien, you should consult a real estate litigation attorney to assist in protecting your rights.

The summary above is intended for general informational purposes only.  It is not legal advice.  It is also not nor is it intended to be a comprehensive analysis of tax deeds generally or of the narrow issues identified.