Suing someone and the box that said “Homestead exemption waived” was marked as “YES”. What does that even mean? Google is confusing
In: Economics
Some states have a property tax. That means if you own property, every year you owe some percentage of its assessed value to the state.
A lot of people feel like owners of *multiple* properties should owe more taxes than people who just have one home. This is based on the idea that most of the time if someone owns two homes it’s because either:
1. They are very wealthy and own multiple homes for luxury.
2. They are a landlord and generate income with some of their properties.
Now, many states with a property tax choose not to have an income tax. But since the property is income-generating, people argue that property should “owe” more tax than just a dwelling.
So a “homestead exemption” is a way to make people with more properties pay a bigger share. It allows a person who owns just one property to file for the exemption. They do not have to pay some portion of the property tax on that property once they file. Usually a person only gets to file one property for homestead exemption, and usually they’re required to live at the property for some time before it is considered eligible.
That way people with one property get a discount on their taxes, and people with multiple properties only get the discount for where they live. Obviously, not everyone’s happy with that.
In my area it’s part of how taxes are adjusted. The property tax rates were just raised by a larger margin than usual, but the state compensated by also allowing homestead exemptions to be raised by a larger margin. That means for people with only one property, the increase was more in line with previous years. But people with multiple properties have a larger tax burden.
If the box says “homestead exemption waived”, that probably means the property in question was not filed for homestead exemption. That would mean whoever owns it did NOT claim it is their primary dwelling or try to get the exemption for their property tax. That’d be common and expected for a rental property or some other money-generating property.
(There are also a handful of other legal things related to homestead exemptions, but 99% of people care about the tax discount. If you’re suing someone, you should consult a lawyer as they should be able to explain in far more detail.)
A “homestead exemption” is a form of protection on a home that shields it from certain kinds of legal actions. Depending on the circumstances, it can reduce your property taxes, protect your home from creditors, provide you with tax relief and other things.
A homestead exemption waiver, then, would mean that someone is waiving this exemption. It was typically found in certain contracts or loan agreements basically allowing the home to no longer be protected and therefore up to be seized.
But they are typically no longer allowed.
PS. Get a lawyer.
a homestead exemption is typically applied to your primary residence. Usually for tax purposes but also provides other legal protections.
If this is waived, it means the property is not homesteaded. Could be a few reasons for that, but you don’t really offer much detail here.
What’s the lawsuit? Are you a contractor and you’ve done work at a property or something and are suing the owner? If it’s not the owner’s primary residence, they can’t homestead it so it’s not protected the same as the house they own and actually live in.
Could also just mean someone filled out something wrong. Ask a lawyer.
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