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Rel: 02/26/2010

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



Rel: 02/26/2010

Southern Reporter
Southern Reporter.
ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
OCTOBER TERM, 2009-2010 2080566
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley
v.
David White
Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-07-411)
PITTMAN, Judge.
Dorothy Collins McLeod and Carolyn Charley ("the plaintiffs") appeal from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court, the effect of which was to vest the ownership of a parcel of real property located in Baldwin County in David



2080566
White, the defendant and the purchaser of the subject property at a tax sale, by denying the plaintiff's complaint to redeem the property. We reverse and remand.
The record shows that the plaintiffs are two of three sisters who inherited the subject property from their mother. The third sister, Lillian White, is also the wife of David White. The sisters have other siblings who did not share in the inheritance of the subject property. The mother died in 1990, and the sisters were deeded the property in 1995. White testified that he and his wife had paid the ad valorem taxes on the property for 16 years preceding the trial, while McLeod testified that a brother of the sisters had paid the taxes in a few of those years. The plaintiffs both lived in Ohio at all times material to this case, and tax notices were always sent only to the Whites by the tax assessor.
In 2002, White failed to pay the ad valorem tax on the property, and he testified that the oversight was due to illness. In the spring of 2003, he became aware that the property was to be sold at auction by the tax assessor. He bid on the property successfully, in his own name only, and he received a certificate of sale from the probate court. In

2



2080566
White, the defendant and the purchaser of the subject property at a tax sale, by denying the plaintiff's complaint to redeem the property. We reverse and remand.
The record shows that the plaintiffs are two of three sisters who inherited the subject property from their mother. The third sister, Lillian White, is also the wife of David White. The sisters have other siblings who did not share in the inheritance of the subject property. The mother died in 1990, and the sisters were deeded the property in 1995. White testified that he and his wife had paid the ad valorem taxes on the property for 16 years preceding the trial, while McLeod testified that a brother of the sisters had paid the taxes in a few of those years. The plaintiffs both lived in Ohio at all times material to this case, and tax notices were always sent only to the Whites by the tax assessor.
In 2002, White failed to pay the ad valorem tax on the property, and he testified that the oversight was due to illness. In the spring of 2003, he became aware that the property was to be sold at auction by the tax assessor. He bid on the property successfully, in his own name only, and he received a certificate of sale from the probate court. In

2



2080566
White, the defendant and the purchaser of the subject property at a tax sale, by denying the plaintiff's complaint to redeem the property. We reverse and remand.
The record shows that the plaintiffs are two of three sisters who inherited the subject property from their mother. The third sister, Lillian White, is also the wife of David White. The sisters have other siblings who did not share in the inheritance of the subject property. The mother died in 1990, and the sisters were deeded the property in 1995. White testified that he and his wife had paid the ad valorem taxes on the property for 16 years preceding the trial, while McLeod testified that a brother of the sisters had paid the taxes in a few of those years. The plaintiffs both lived in Ohio at all times material to this case, and tax notices were always sent only to the Whites by the tax assessor.
In 2002, White failed to pay the ad valorem tax on the property, and he testified that the oversight was due to illness. In the spring of 2003, he became aware that the property was to be sold at auction by the tax assessor. He bid on the property successfully, in his own name only, and he received a certificate of sale from the probate court. In

2



2080566
White, the defendant and the purchaser of the subject property at a tax sale, by denying the plaintiff's complaint to redeem the property. We reverse and remand.
The record shows that the plaintiffs are two of three sisters who inherited the subject property from their mother. The third sister, Lillian White, is also the wife of David White. The sisters have other siblings who did not share in the inheritance of the subject property. The mother died in 1990, and the sisters were deeded the property in 1995. White testified that he and his wife had paid the ad valorem taxes on the property for 16 years preceding the trial, while McLeod testified that a brother of the sisters had paid the taxes in a few of those years. The plaintiffs both lived in Ohio at all times material to this case, and tax notices were always sent only to the Whites by the tax assessor.
In 2002, White failed to pay the ad valorem tax on the property, and he testified that the oversight was due to illness. In the spring of 2003, he became aware that the property was to be sold at auction by the tax assessor. He bid on the property successfully, in his own name only, and he received a certificate of sale from the probate court. In

2



2080566

2006, the plaintiffs attempted to sell the property and learned of the 2003 tax sale only when they traveled to Alabama to attend the sale closing. The plaintiffs sued in small-claims court in the summer of 2006, challenging the validity of the tax sale, and that case was dismissed. Also in the summer of 2006, White received a tax deed to the property from the Baldwin Probate Court.
In May 2007, the plaintiffs filed the complaint that initiated this case in the circuit court, asserting, among other things, a right to redeem under Ala. Code 1975,

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