September 16, 2022 Big Trouble

 

We've faced some pretty steep challenges since beginning the Creekside Project.  We've had to pay off a huge tax bill that wasn't ours, clear away eight hundred yards of debris we didn't make, learn how to build everything that exists here, and surmount all of the obstacles anyone could put in our way. We've bled real blood, shed real tears and sweated enough to fill a swimming pool. And there's been times when the Farm has actually tried to kill us dead, but it couldn't. All of this was done on a shoestring,. We didn't get much help, but took as much as was offered gratefully. 

But we've run into something that might be bigger than we can handle. Something which could kill the dream.

If you've read much of this blog, you know how we did all of this. If you haven't, the story is right there on the right side of this page. So let me dispense with the preliminary story and just get to it.

The land had belonged the woman who died in a house fire, but when she died she left behind a debt to Medicaid which was still outstanding. So when we filed a Small Estates Affidavit for the daughter who had taken control of the property, and without any knowledge of it, the Department of Human Services (DHS) had placed a lien on the Title to the land to collect this debt.

The lien was for around thirty-two thousand dollars for a debt made in 2007. It had been accruing interest since March of 2016 but it was August of 2022 when we found out about it. The new truth here is that the Title had not transferred to the woman we bought our farm from, despite Tax and Probate laws saying it would, because the transfer was held up by a lien we had no way of knowing about. The lien was placed three months after the prospective owner of the land had passed on, so her address was no longer valid and DHS had made no attempt at finding someone new to send the bill to. In fact, they didn't know she was gone.

Picture a taxi sitting a block away with its meter running for fifteen years. 

The potential debt arising in March or 2016 has since ballooned up to nearly four hundred thousand dollars because not only does the family holding the Contract on our farm owe a debt for health services paid for their mother, the woman we bought the Farm from also has a large debt stemming from her care as she slipped away. The amount of money owed far exceeds the value of the Farm, with the house, which we put every dime we had into, which was tied to the land, which we did not own.

But this would be a rotten place to end this story. A bad outcome which nobody would want to read because it would be too sad. We need to find help, though it may already be too late. The laws on paper protect heirs under certain conditions and we don't meet the criteria.