I live out of state, I received a notice of delinquent property taxes even though I know I paid my taxes. The law firm listed on the letter would not assist me clearing up the issue. My calls to Reeves county were only busy signals, then I would get voicemail, and resorted to mailing and emailing them, but they have not returned my inquires. I then found a site for Reeves County, and found they opened 9 different Accounts for my 2 properties, then applied the taxes I sent to any Account they wanted to, it looks like what they are doing is criminal in nature, there are Accounts with my same last name, but they are real people, and Reeves County is most likely billing them too, while my payments donât go to the Accounts they should be, and they have a law firm threatening me by saying they will send a Constable, ruin my credit rating and foreclose on my property! I have hired a law firm, I would like to know if anyone else is having the same type of issue with Reeves county.
I payed my taxes and on the website, it has me as not having payed them and have charged me a late fee and interest. I have the canceled check and have tried calling them numerous times and just get a voice mail.
@wamayall and @William_Sweeney best practice is to send a check for payment that includes your owner number for the properties. Make sure sure to send the tax statement sheet or stub you received. Maintain a copy of both for your records. You may have Reeves county collecting for different entities, thus the multiple collections. Give it another month for Reeves to get out of their busy time, then contact them to resolve the issues.
It is very likely more accidental than nefarious. Reeves has been making some broad changes to improve their CAD systems. The law firm intro letter that talks about credit and foreclosure is the same âscaryâ letter they send to anyone at the start of the collections process. Iâve handled probably hundreds of CAD errors that started with that letter and they were all resolved without much drama. I find that getting someone on the phone and being very kind, with a follow-up up email with all of your documentation can get it resolved pretty quickly. I hope it goes as well for you.
Thank you very much, james
Property taxes will be assessed separately for surface and producing minerals. Producing minerals will be broken down further to the RRC leases. So if 3 wells are drilled, each with a different RRC lease number, then 3 tax assessments will be included on the tax statement, even if the wells are located on the same tract of land. It is also possible that taxes are being assessed for a prior year year, whether unpaid at that time or for a new well which was valued later. Annual tax statement will list each well for only that year, and not prior years. Sometime separate statements are sent for each well. Taxes will be applied to the oldest unpaid statement, so if there is an underpayment for 2023, then that will be credited first. Gather all the statements and make a spreadsheet listing each statement on separate lines, with columns for account number, parcel id, RRC lease id, well name, tax year and tax due. Then compare your payment(s) and tax receipts. This way you can put together the evidence of your proper payment for all back taxes, whether you or your attorney sends to the CAD office.
The reason that the law firm will not help is simple. YOU are not the one paying them. You need to hire your own attorney.
There had been a problem about sending invoices for property I didnât own and didnât recognize. That seems to have been resolved.
Last year I filed a challenge to the valuation of the properties I did own. I spoke at length with the reservoir engineer who was generating the assessments. He based reserves on standard decline-curve analysis, and I could find no fault in his calculation. Prices used are defined by State law based on prior year averages. Again, there was no âwiggle roomâ. The discount rate for future cash flows (DCF analysis) was reasonable. Based on this, I dropped the challenge and advised my family members to do the same. The engineer was very professional in his assessment, and I thanked him for the quality of his work.
DEI at work! Tell ELON!
MAGA at work. Good luck with getting an answer
Kyndall, If someone at Reeves County would answer the phone, or return my voice mail and emails, I think it could be resolved.
I live out of state, but it is No accident to have opened 9 Accounts for my 2 properties, then apply the money I sent them however they pleased.
While Reeves County is NOT taking my Personal Information seriously by sending delinquent tax notices to people for property I own!
And Yes, the letter from their lawyer âscaredâ me, I did nothing wrong and I am being treated like a criminal.
I feel like Reeves County, with their lawyers behind them are extorting me, taxing me incorrectly, AND scaring me.
The law firm sends a form letter that back taxes are unpaid per records and that unless the taxes are paid or resolved with the county, then the foreclosure process can be started. The law firm has no detailed information about your accounts, at least at the time of the first letter. The language is blunt, but it gets your attention. This means that, at least on the records, you have taxes due for 2023 and prior years. If you paid 2024 taxes, that will have been applied to the oldest year unpaid taxes first. Sometimes the account numbers change and sometimes your name may be listed as Mary J and other times be Mary Jane. Also check the addresses to make sure they are all correct. Go to Reeves CAD site and look under your name for unpaid taxes for all years. Open boxes and print detail. The make spreadsheet as explained above, with separate lines for each well and each year. Compare to your checks for prior years and your past tax statements and paid tax receipts. If you recently inherited or purchased the minerals and/or surface, you will be responsible for all prior year unpaid taxes. In several past years, the Pecos-Barstow-Torah ISD sent separate bills from Reeves County, instead of combined, so look at tax authority as you may have paid ISD and not County. This way you can send the spreadsheet and scanned tax receipts to show you have paid all the taxes in full for all years.
In my experience the collections front line personnel are not familiar with mineral rights and you need to speak to the appraisal district and/or someone higher up at the collections firm. The collections firms send blanket threatening letters to every account that is delinquent in an attempt to to get payment.
In general you will have at least one account per well, and more if there are any wells that cross multiple jurisdictions (like two school districts for example). Iâve seen some wells have as many as seven accounts per owner in urban areas of Fort Worth.
I was in the same exact situation with Reeves County taxes thanks to things falling through the cracks with my motherâs estate. I got the same scary letter. In a panic I went to the Reeves county CAD and saw the links to pay online. I paid all the taxes then and there. I also called the next day to confirm that everything was in good standing. I had no trouble getting anyone on the phone.
Something similar to this happened to my mother a couple years ago turn out it was a scam ! A letter was sent to her that looked all official from a law firm threatening all kinds of stuff But it turned out to be a scam so if I was you I would check it out thoroughly
I found the following site for Reeves County:
(www.reevescountytax.org/)
If I search for my Last Name, there are 9 Accounts, some of the Names are ME, some are NOT ME, yet Reeves County applied the Taxes I sent them to âotherâ Accounts.
Those other Names are NOT typos, those are REAL People, I donât know them, but someone has linked MY property to these other people.
I finally talked to someone at Reeves County, but she couldnât fix the mess. Somehow I am sure other property own have to be dealing with the same issues I am.
Reeves county will not return my calls. Reeves county continues to mail me the threatening letters. Reeves county has not changed the ownership of my properties and mineral rights to my name. Reeves county has billed me for 640 acres, but I only own 26 acres.
I hired a lawyer, which is costing more than the taxes they say I owe, but if they are charging me for 640 acres then they owe me money. But what is worse, those people who happened to share my last name have paid some of the taxes that Reeves county sent them!
When I had trouble with titling in Reeves County several years ago, I was helped by Pritchard and Abbott, https://www.pandai.com/ I am not sure if they are still associated with Reeves County but they were able to clarify title for Reeves.
First separate the minerals (producing wells with DOI) from the surface. These are taxed separately. The reference to 640 acres may be to gross surface acres and you own a fraction (percentage) which nets to 26 acres. The tax statement should describe the gross acres and note your net acres so that your tax is 26/640 of the total value of the section. Second, there are often multiple people in the county records with the same last name. Do all these owners all have the same or different owner account numbers? Or is A Smith in acct 12345 and B Smith in 67899? Third, if you inherited through 2 people who each had an interest in the same tract of surface land, then the two interests will remain separate in the Reeves system and not be merged together. For example, Uncle A owned 2% of 640 acres = 12.8 net acres and Father owned 2% of 640 acres = 12.8 net acres. You inherited the 25.6 net acres. You may receive separate tax bills for Aâs 12.8 net acres and Fâs 12.8 net acres under your own name. You can tell this by reviewing the total value of 640 acres and the fractions applied to get to your interest. Fourth, if the surface is not in your name in the Reeves records (still in name of predecessor), then you need to send a copy of the recorded deed into you to get this corrected. Reeves does not monitor the deed records and make changes. It is up to the owner to provide the data. Fifth, if the producing minerals (wells) are not in your name and you are receiving royalty checks, then the operator has not sent update royalty owner lists to Reeves and CAGI (Capitol Appraisal Group). If your minerals are not producing, then you will not be taxed.
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