On May 12, 2026, in Hunter v. McCoy, the Mississippi Court of Appeals addressed the following issues:

On August 31, 2020, Donald Wayne McCoy Sr. purchased three parcels of land for unpaid ad valorem taxes for the 2019 tax year, giving him a statutory lien over three parcels of land.

The sale was recorded in the Chancery Court of Lauderdale County and had a two-year redemption period which ended on August 31, 2022.

On November 3, 2022, McCoy requested tax deeds for each parcel of land, and three deeds were subsequently issued and recorded. On April 5, 2023, McCoy filed a complaint to confirm the tax sale and quiet title

Minnie Hunter, the record owner of the land parcels at the time of the sale, died intestate on February 1, 2022. Her three children survived her.

The Estate of Minnie Hunter did not officially open until March 3, 2023. The chancery court did not officially recognize Minnie’s living children as her heirs at law until August 29, 2023, one year after the redemption period ended.

The Court observed that when providing notice of a tax sale to a landowner or lienor, Mississippi Code Annotated section 27-43-1 mandates the following:

The clerk of the chancery court shall, within one hundred eighty (180) days and not less than sixty (60) days prior to the expiration of the time of redemption with respect to land sold, either to individuals or to the state, be required to issue notice to the record owner of the land sold as of one hundred eighty (180) days prior to the expiration of the time of redemption.

The Court explained further that the statute does not establish who should be given notice if the record owner is deceased. Nevertheless, pursuant to Mississippi law, all parties having or claiming any interest in the property at issue must be brought before the court.

As the Court noted, during the initial sale, Minnie was the record owner; however, the ownership of the land changed during the redemption when Minnie died on February 1, 2022, leaving seven months to redeem the property. Thus, Minnie’s heirs were entitled to receive statutory notice.

Note: In this case, the Clerk was aware of Minnie’s death and attempted to give notice to Minnie’s heirs. The efforts were unsuccessful, however.

The Court’s decision does not address the question of whether the Clerk has any duty to look for heirs in the absence of knowledge of the record owner’s death. The statutory scheme suggests the answer would be “no”.

S. Craig Panter

Panter Law Firm, PLLC

7736 Old Canton Road, Suite B

Madison, MS 39110

601-607-3156

Posted June 19, 2026