LIENS,
FORECLOSURE



 



§246-55  Tax liens; co-owners' rights;
foreclosure; limitation.  (a)  Every tax due upon real property, as defined
by section 246-1, shall be a paramount lien upon the property assessed, which
lien shall attach as of July 1 in each tax year and shall continue for six
years.  If proceedings for the enforcement or foreclosure of the lien are
brought within the applicable period hereinabove designated, the lien shall
continue until the termination of the proceedings or the completion of the
foreclosure sale.



(b)  In case of cotenancy, if one cotenant
pays, within the period of the aforesaid government lien, all of the real
property taxes, interest, penalties, and other additions to the tax, due and
delinquent at the time of payment, the cotenant shall have, pro tanto, a lien
on the interest of any noncontributing cotenant upon recording in the bureau of
conveyances, within ninety days after the payment so made by the cotenant, a
sworn notice setting forth the amount claimed, a brief description of the land
affected by tax key or otherwise, sufficient to identify it, the tax year or
years, and the name of the cotenant upon whose interest such lien is asserted.
When a notice of such tax lien is recorded by a cotenant, the registrar shall
forthwith cause the same to be indexed in the general indexes of the bureau of
conveyances.  In case the land affected is registered in the land court and is
not a leasehold time share interest as described in section 501-20, the notice
shall also contain a reference to the number of the certificate of title of
such land and shall be filed and registered in the office of the assistant
registrar of the land court, and the registrar, in the registrar's capacity as
assistant registrar of the land court, shall make a notation of the filing
thereof on each land court certificate of title so specified.



The cotenant's lien shall have the same
priority as the lien or liens of the government for the taxes paid by the
cotenant, and may be enforced by an action in the nature of a suit in equity.
The lien shall continue for three years after recording or registering, or
until termination of the proceedings for enforcement thereof if such
proceedings are begun and notice of the pendency thereof is recorded or filed
and registered as provided by law, within the period.



(c)  The director or the director's
subordinate, in case of a government lien, and the creditor cotenant, in case
of a cotenant's lien, at the expense of the debtor, upon payment of the amount
of the lien, shall execute and deliver to the debtor a sworn satisfaction
thereof, including a reference to the name of the person assessed or cotenant
affected as shown in the original notice, the date of filing of the original
notice, a description of the land involved and, except with respect to a
leasehold time share interest as described in section 501-20, the number of the
certificate of title of such land if registered in the land court, which, when
recorded in the bureau of conveyances or filed and registered in the office of
the assistant registrar of the land court, in the case of a cotenant's lien,
which contains the reference to the book and page or document number of the
original lien, shall be entered in the general indexes of the bureau of
conveyances, and if a notation of the original notice was made on any land
court certificate of title the filing of such satisfaction shall also be noted
on the certificate.



This section as to cotenancy shall apply, as
well, in any case of ownership by more than one assessable person.



(d)  Upon enforcement or foreclosure by the
government, in any manner whatsoever, of any such real property tax lien, all
taxes of whatsoever nature and howsoever accruing due at the time of the
foreclosure sale from the taxpayer against whose property such tax lien is so
enforced or foreclosed shall be satisfied as far as possible out of the
proceeds of the sale remaining after payment of (1) the costs and expenses of
the enforcement and foreclosure including a title search, if any, (2) the amount
of subsisting real property tax liens, and (3) the amount of any recorded liens
against the property, in the order of their priority.



The liens may be enforced by action of the tax
collector in the circuit court of the judicial circuit in which the property is
situate, and jurisdiction is conferred upon the circuit courts to hear and
determine all proceedings brought or instituted to enforce and foreclose such
tax liens, and the proceedings had before the circuit courts shall be conducted
in the same manner and form as ordinary foreclosure proceedings.  If the owners
or claimants of the property against which a lien is sought to be foreclosed
are at the time without the State or cannot be served within the State, or if
the owners are unknown, and the fact shall be made to appear by affidavit to
the satisfaction of the court, and it shall in like manner appear prima facie
that a cause of action exists against such owners or claimants or against the
property described in the complaint or that such owners or claimants are
necessary or proper parties to the action, the court may grant an order that
the service may be made in the manner provided by sections 634-23 to 634-27.



In any such case it shall not be necessary to
obtain judgment and have execution issued and returned unsatisfied, before
proceeding to foreclose the lien for taxes in the manner herein provided. [L
1932 2d, c 40, §65; RL 1935, §1960; RL 1945, §5167; am L 1945, c 220, §1; am L
1955, c 238, §4; RL 1955, §128-38; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §16; am L 1966, c 33,
§3; am L 1967, c 255, §§38, 46; HRS §246-55; am L 1969, c 170, §25; am L 1970,
c 49, §1; am L 1973, c 133, §9; am L 1975, c 157, §24; am L 1978, c 115, §1;
gen ch 1985; am L 1986, c 339, §22; am L 1989, c 47, §2; am L 1998, c 219, §5]



 



Case Notes



 



  Tripartite priority
problem ‑ State, Federal, private persons. 113 F. Supp. 702.



  When tax becomes lien
under prior law.  16 H. 92.