Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 8722 – Praecipe; judgment; monition
(a) The tax collecting authority may file a praecipe in the office of the prothonotary of the Superior Court in and for the county where the property is located.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 8722
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
(b) The praecipe shall contain the name of the person against whom the taxes sought to be collected were assessed, a copy of the bill or bills showing the amount of taxes due, and the property against which the taxes were assessed. The description of the property, as the same appears upon the assessment rolls of the county where the property is located, shall be a sufficient identification and description of the property. Thereupon the prothonotary shall make a record of the same on a special judgment docket of the Superior Court against the property mentioned or described in the praecipe which record shall consist of the following:
(1) The name of the person in whose name the assessment was made;
(2) The description of the property as the same shall appear upon the assessment rolls;
(3) The year or years for which the taxes are due and payable;
(4) The date of the filing of such praecipe;
(5) The amount of the judgment, the same being the amount set forth in the praecipe.
Such judgment shall be indexed in the judgment docket itself under the hundred in which the property is located as the location appears upon the assessment rolls so prepared, and under the hundred by communities where the name of the community appears upon the assessment rolls so prepared, and by referring to the page in the judgment docket whereon the record shall appear.
(c) Thereafter upon a praecipe for monition filed in the office of the prothonotary by the tax collecting authority, a monition shall be issued by the prothonotary to the sheriff of the county where the property is located, which monition shall briefly state the amount of the judgment for the taxes due and the years thereof, including accrued penalty thereon, together with a brief description of the property upon which the taxes are a lien. A description of the property as it appears upon the assessment rolls shall be sufficient.
(d) The tax collecting authority for New Castle, Kent and Sussex Counties may initiate and complete the monitions process against any property designated by the authority as having an unknown owner for a continuous period in excess of 5 years. Notwithstanding that an investigation of chain of title to such property has not been performed, and notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, the taxing authority shall be exempted from any obligation expressed therein that cannot be satisfied due to the absence of a known owner, including but not limited to notification of sale to the record owner and provision of copies of bills showing amounts due.
Code 1935, § ?1381A; 46 Del. Laws, c. 133, § ?1; 9 Del. C. 1953, § ?8722; 55 Del. Laws, c. 85, § ?25E; 60 Del. Laws, c. 675, §§ ?2, 3; 61 Del. Laws, c. 391, §§ ?1, 2; 71 Del. Laws, c. 401, § ?120; 71 Del. Laws, c. 401, § ?115; 75 Del. Laws, c. 119, § ?1;