06-F Tax Proposal - McCreary - Laserfiche WebLink

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owners and lienholders. We generate an Original Petition and a Citation. The Original Petition is filed in the Court, and the District Clerk issues the citations we prepare to each defendant. OBTAINING SERVICE OF CITATION ON THE DEFENDANTS Each defendant property owner and lienholder in a lawsuit must be served with citation prior to setting the case for trial and judgment. Within sixty days from the date a citation is issued, MVBA examines the Court's file for the sheriff s return of the citation indicating that a defendant has been served or, in the alternative, that the defendant could not be located at the address given on the citation. If there is not a sheriff s return of the citation at the initial examination, we will review the Court's file again every thirty days until the sheriff s return is filed. If a citation is not returned by the sheriff within sixty to seventy-five days of issuance of the citation, we make inquiry of the sheriff s department as to the status of the service of citation or any questions that may have arisen. If the sheriff is unable to locate a defendant at the address given on the citation, we begin an immediate search for a new address. A detailed discussion of address research is included in Section B. If a new address is identified, a new citation is issued. If the defendant cannot be located after a diligent search, a citation by publication will be issued on the defendant. DEALING WITH DEFENDANT PROPERTY OWNERS Many defendant property owners will pay after service of citation. We communicate with the defendants or their attorneys to arrange the payment of the taxes and court costs and the dismissal of the lawsuit. Other defendant property owners may wish to sign an installment payment agreement. If the tax office approves of the payment agreement, we closely monitor the defendant's compliance with the agreed-upon payment schedule. In some cases, we will obtain an agreed judgment along with a payment agreement wherein we agree not to execute on the judgment provided the defendant keeps the payout agreement. A detailed discussion of installment payment agreements is included in Section C. SUIT TRACKING SYSTEM The process of keeping numerous lawsuits flowing through the court system requires a computerized suit tracking system. McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen maintains a sophisticated automated suit tracking system providing the following information on each pending suit: *Cause Number *Style of Case *Filing Date *Defendants' Names McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen 20