Wayne County Treasurer’s Office Announces Process to Address Claims Related to Court Ruling on Foreclosure Funds
DETROIT, MI – The Wayne County Treasurer’s Office is now accepting Notices of Intent to Claim Remaining Auction Proceeds from Pre-2020 Sales related to a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling in Schaefer vs Kent County and Hathon vs Shiawasee County on surplus foreclosure proceeds from auction sales that occurred during a six-year period before December 22, 2020, it announced today.
The process puts in place a system to efficiently and effectively track the numerous claims the office expects to receive in the wake of the court ruling, said Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree, while adding that the office will continue to advocate for the best interests of all taxpayers of Wayne County throughout the process.
“We are accepting Notices of Intent to Claim Remaining Auction Proceeds from Pre-2020 and our tracking system will be in place by Oct. 1,” Sabree said. “Claimants will have six months to file their notice with a deadline to do so by March 31, 2025.”
The form which was recently released by the State Treasurer’s office been available since Septmber18th on the WCTO website and can be found at https://www.waynecounty.com/treasurer and at https://www.michigan.gov/treasury.
Once a Notice of Intent is filed by the claimant, the Treasurer’s Office has until July 1, 2025, to send via certified mail a notice to each claimant who submitted the notice of intent form.
Claimants will then have until Oct. 1, 2025, to file a certified motion in Wayne County Third Circuit Court to claim any proceeds. The Circuit Court will set a hearing date on the motion to determine the amounts and verify the claimants’ interest. The Treasurer’s Office has 21 days following an order from the court to pay claimants or any other parties. Payments will then be made through early 2026.
The Treasurer’s Office said it expects thousands of Notices of Intent to Claim to be filed in Wayne County. As the state’s largest county, Wayne County has historically had a greater number of foreclosures per capita. Sabree said while foreclosures have declined dramatically since 2015 and are at the lowest number since 2003, he still expects a significant number of claims.
In 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional for local governments to keep surplus proceeds from tax foreclosure sales. In this past July, that same Court issued an opinion that said the 2020 decision applies retroactively to foreclosure sales during a six-year period before December 22, 2020. Owners of properties sold for more than the amount owed in a tax foreclosure auction before 2020 and during that period are eligible to file a notice of intent under the statutory claims process.
