Texas Delinquent Tax Suits Explained
Texas Delinquent Tax Suits Explained
Information, not legal advice. Laws change; check the current statute or rule and talk to a Texas attorney before you act.
Texas does not sell tax liens at auction. When property taxes stay unpaid, the taxing units go to court. A tax suit is a lawsuit, usually in state district court, that asks a judge to foreclose the tax lien and order the property sold. Most suits never reach a sale; owners pay or set up a plan. But the filing of a suit is one of the clearest public signs that an owner is under real financial pressure.
Who files it
A taxing unit (county, city, school district, college district, special district) may sue at any time after its tax becomes delinquent, to foreclose the lien, to make the owner personally liable, or both (Tax Code §33.41(a)). The suit is filed in a court in the county where the tax was imposed.
In practice, most suits are filed by the private law firms that taxing units hire under Tax Code §6.30. The Texas Tribune reported in 2025 that 252 of Texas's 254 counties use private collection firms. The biggest are Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson; Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott; and McCreary Veselka Bragg & Allen. See who runs Texas tax sales.
Because one property is taxed by several units, the suing unit must join the other taxing units that have delinquent claims on the same property. A joined unit that fails to file its claim loses its lien for those taxes (§33.44). That is why the case caption often lists a county, a city and a school district together.
Who gets sued
The suit names the owners of record and others who hold an interest in the property, so that the judgment and sale can clear their claims. That can include:
- the current owner or owners, including heirs of a deceased owner;
- mortgage lenders and other lienholders;
- "unknown owners," who may be joined and cited under that name (Tex. R. Civ. P. 117a).
Owners who live in Texas are generally served in person. Owners who are out of state, transient or unknown may be served by publication after the attorney swears to those facts (Rule 117a). When defendants are served by publication or posting, the court may appoint an attorney ad litem to represent them, and the ad litem's fee becomes a cost of the suit (Tax Code §33.48).
What the suit adds to the bill
By the time a suit is filed, the bill usually already includes penalty, interest and (after July 1) the collection penalty of up to 20% (§33.07; see how delinquency works). The suit can add, under §33.48:
- usual court costs, including service of process and e-filing fees;
- the cost of filing a notice of lis pendens against the property;
- costs of the foreclosure sale;
- reasonable expenses to identify and locate the parties and get the legal description (title research);
- attorney ad litem fees approved by the court;
- attorney's fees of 15% of the taxes, penalties and interest, unless the unit already charged the §33.07 collection penalty, in which case it may not also recover attorney's fees for those taxes (§33.07(c)).
The tax roll itself is prima facie evidence that the taxes are owed and the amounts are right (§33.47). The owner can dispute it, but the burden shifts to them.
How a suit can end
| Outcome | What happens |
|---|---|
| Paid | The owner, a lender, or a buyer pays the full amount; the unit dismisses (nonsuits) the case |
| Installment agreement | The owner signs a plan; the unit may not sue or seize while the plan is honored (§33.02) |
| Deferral or abatement | A qualifying over-65, disabled or disabled-veteran homestead owner files a deferral affidavit; a pending suit can be abated (§33.06) |
| Bankruptcy | The automatic stay halts the case for now (11 U.S.C. §362) |
| Judgment | The court forecloses the lien, sets the property's value, and orders a sale (§33.50) |
The Office of Court Administration's FY2024 report gives a sense of the flow statewide: about 45,700 new tax cases were filed in district courts from September 2023 to August 2024; 22,575 were dismissed by the plaintiff (usually because they were paid); 8,219 ended in a judgment after trial and 8,071 by default; and 104,337 tax cases were still pending at year end. Many suits stay open for a long time.
The judgment
If the case goes to judgment, the court must find the property's market value as of the trial date. The most recent appraisal-roll value is presumed to be market value unless a party proves otherwise, and that value goes into the judgment as the adjudged value (§33.50). The judgment then orders the property sold. That sets up the sheriff's or constable's sale described in tax judgments and tax sales.
Why the suit matters to each audience
- Property tax lenders. A filed suit often moves an owner to act. Under the lender advertising rule, a lender may not say or imply an owner has been or will be sued unless it has verified that the taxing unit or another party "has sued or will sue within 30 days of when the advertisement or solicitation is sent" (7 TAC §89.208(b)(9)). Fresh suit status is therefore useful. See lender advertising rules.
- Tax-sale investors. A suit is the earliest view of what may come to sale months later.
- Real estate investors. Owners in a tax suit may prefer a sale that pays the taxes and leaves them some equity over a forced sale that may not. A tax suit is also a strong "stacking" signal (see stacking distress signals).
Tips for reading a tax-suit record
- The cause number is the key to everything later: the judgment, the sale notice and any excess proceeds all use it.
- Check the defendants list for heirs and lienholders. Many tax-suit properties have title problems that a buyer will have to solve.
- Look for a lis pendens in the county real property records. It warns buyers the property is in litigation (see lis pendens).
- Remember that a suit can name several tax years and several taxing units. The total can be much higher than one year's bill.
How this shows up in Agentix Data
Agentix Data carries tax-suit status from the Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Travis and Hood delinquent rolls, and new Harris County tax suits from the District Clerk's daily public files, refreshed every morning. Fort Bend and Denton court indexes add tax suits by case, but without addresses, so name-only matches are marked "possible." A tax suit counts as a high-weight signal in our stacked lists.
Sources
- Tax Code §33.41, suit to collect: https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/tax-code/tax-sect-33-41/
- Tax Code §33.44, joinder of taxing units: https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/tax-code/tax-sect-33-44/
- Tax Code §33.47, tax records as evidence: https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/tax-code/tax-sect-33-47/
- Tax Code §33.48, recoverable costs: https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/tax-code/tax-sect-33-48/
- Tax Code §33.50, adjudged value and order of sale: https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/tax-code/tax-sect-33-50/
- Tax Code §33.07, collection penalty: https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/tax-code/tax-sect-33-07/
- Tax Code §6.30, attorney contracts: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._tax_code_section_6.30
- Tax Code ch. 33 (official): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.33.htm
- Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 117a, citation in tax suits: https://ruledex.com/texas/texas-rules-of-civil-procedure/part-ii-rules-of-practice-in-district-and-county-courts/section-5-citation/rule-117a-citation-in-suits-for-delinquent-ad-valorem-taxes/
- 7 TAC §89.208, property tax lender advertising: https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/7-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-89-208
- 11 U.S.C. §362, automatic stay: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/362
- Office of Court Administration, FY2024 Annual Statistical Report: https://txcourts.gov/media/1461502/ar-statistical-fy24.pdf
- Texas Tribune, delinquent tax collection firms (March 13, 2025): https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/13/texas-property-tax-delinquent-fees-attorneys
General information, not legal or financial advice.