[butterflyam]

If you make every attempt to contact an owner and/or heirs of owners to transfer a deed of an undivided interest back to a resort, thus waiving debt incurred, is there a way to place a legal ad in the county of last residence allowing conveyance back to the resort by this means (I am in Georgia)?

This in the case of owners or heirs who have stopped paying yearly maintenance fees, no longer come to the resort and ignore correspondence and phone calls. We do not want to sue for money, we just want the deeds back.

I just wrote a four paragraph question and lost it when I tried to preview it. I will give more details if necessary.

Thank you.

[JudyKayTee]

The usual practice when serving anything by publication (which is what this is called) is to get an Order allowing service in this manner. The publication has to meet certain standards/criteria, including the size of the paper's distribution.

Are any of the details important enough to change this?

[butterflyam]

We have tried the Foreclosure by Publication route, testing it on a case that has been in suit for nearly five years. We were disappointed to find that before commencing with this method, we essentially had to start all over again. When we finally came back to the same result - no response from the now defendant, our attorney attempted the FBP and ran into a judge who decided we could not do it without making contact with the defendant?? Even our attorney could not understand this and when asked by us as to the reason, he said "because he can".

I was hoping for a simple public notice to regain control of the property when all attempts are ignored. We are talking about an undivided interest costing a total of $3,000. In an ideal situation, we could collect the back maintenance fees and/or regain the title, but we are willing to waive the debt to free up the ownership which the owner will not and cannot use and we are unable to re-sell.

Thank you for your response.

[AK lawyer]

... We were disappointed to find that before commencing with this method, we essentially had to start all over again. When we finally came back to the same result - no response from the now defendant, our attorney attempted the FBP and ran into a judge who decided we could not do it without making contact with the defendant????? Even our attorney could not understand this and when asked by us as to the reason, he said "because he can"...

That's because, when attempting a course of action with which the judge may be unfamiliar, it is best to first file a motion with the judge setting forth in detail what you are proposing to do; and get the judge' approval in advance. Can save a lot of time and money in the long run.

[butterflyam]

Even though I still find it difficult to understand his reasoning and the fact that he did not acknowlege the years of trying to do just that, I absolutely appreciate your advice. At least we would know where we stand before coming back to court.