If two people are joint tenants on a house and 40 acres and one moves to another location how does the one who moves prevent the other one from claiming he deserted the property. My brother got the tax bill sent to him and paid it without me getting a chance to pay my half. We are not on speaking terms. I have no intention of giving up my half of the property, especially since I paid the entire amount in the beginning on the promise that he would pay his half when we sold another house in another state in which we both had a 50% interest. When we sold that house, he deducted what he owed me from the sale price of the house BEFORE splitting it 50-50. I lost $19,000 on that deal by having it split that way. Can the tax collector take payment from one joint tenant without giving the other joint tenant the option of paying? Does his paying the tax and my moving give him grounds for saying I deserted the property. I have the deed that says we are joint tenants. Is that enough?

Nice brother.

Abandonment is a matter of intention. Action sometimes is relied upon to help determine a persons intent.

In your situation you have intention of abandoning your interest. To make your intention clear write a letter to your brother telling him that you have not abandoned your interest in the property and in the future you want a copy of the tax notice so that you can pay your equal share. Send the letter to him by registered mail. Keep your postal receipt and attach it to your copy of the letter.

As a bit of overkill, send yourself a copy of the same letter by registered mail and do not open it when you receive it. If your intention is ever questioned, take your unopened letter to your attorney and open it in his presence. This will confirm your written intention at a specified time confirmed by the postmark on the unopened letter.

Contact your county tax assessment office - tell them your situation and that you would like a copy of the tax notice sent to your address.

As far as payment is concerned - the Tax Man doesn't care who pays.

Steve @ www.buyingahouseandsavingmoney.com

Thanks Steve. I have contacted the assessor and he told me to contact him again at tax time and he would send me the bill next time. However, I will just go down there on November 1st when they open and pay it next time.

I'm pretty sure he will not accept a registered letter. Might be worth a try anyway. However, as far as sending one to myself and not opening it, that probably wouldn't be effective because I used to do that with songs as a poor man's copyright but they say it isn't useful anymore to do that.

The fact that I went to the local assessor and in front of 5 witnesses voiced my desire to pay the tax should be enough. I also sent a check to my brother indicating what it was for on the check. However, I doubt that he will cash it. If he does, fine.

Thanks again, though.

You shouldn't have a problem.

Just to add, if you send the registered letter, it doesn't matter whether he opens it or not - its you making your position known. The postmasters receipt confirms the date you made your position known.

Same with the self-addressed letter.

Having said that, if you attend the tax office and pay 1/2 the taxes, keep your receipt - no way your leaving the property could be construed as abandonment.

Steve @ www.buyingahouseandsavingmoney.com