House Bill No. 6402
House Bill No. 6402
SPECIAL ACT NO. 97-6
AN ACT VALIDATING ACTS AND DEEDS, VALID EXCEPT FOR
CERTAIN IRREGULARITIES AND OMISSIONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. ASSESSMENTS AND TAXATION. (a) No
assessment list in any town, city or borough
completed prior to the effective date of this act
shall be deemed invalid because the assessor:
(1) Neglected to give legal notice requiring
all persons therein liable to pay taxes to bring
in written or printed lists of the taxable
property belonging to them, as required by law;
(2) Received from any person, before the
first day of November in any given year, a list
that is either not sworn to or not signed by the
person giving that list;
(3) Received from any person after the first
day of November in any given year, a list that is
duly sworn to, but said assessor neglected to fill
out a list of the property of any such person and
to add thereto ten per cent of the valuation
thereof;
(4) Added to the list of any person or
corporation making a sworn list of any property
owned by such person or corporation and liable to
taxation without legally notifying such person or
corporation of such addition;
(5) Made out such a list for any person or
corporation and increased the valuation of such
person's or corporation's property above the
valuation in the last-preceding grand list, and
added ten per cent thereto, but failed to give
such person or corporation notice of such
increase, where said person or corporation liable
to pay taxes in any town, city or borough as a
resident thereof has failed, in any year, to give
in a list for such person or corporation as
required by law;
(6) Did not assess and set in lists,
separately, as land, house lots;
(7) Did not sign any assessment list or did
not sign the assessment list of such town, city or
borough collectively, but signed the same
individually for districts or societies in such
town, city or borough;
(8) Omitted to arrange the assessment lists
in alphabetical order, or to lodge the same in the
required office on or before the day designated by
law, or at all;
(9) Decreased valuations after the day on
which the assessment list was lodged or was
required by law to be lodged in the required
office, but before the date on which the abstract
of such list was transmitted or was required by
law to be transmitted by the town clerk to the
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management;
(10) Omitted to fill out a list for any
person or corporation that failed to return a list
as provided by law;
(11) Made an incorrect abstract of the
assessment lists;
(12) Omitted to compare, sign, return, date
or make oath to an abstract of the assessment
lists of his or her town, as required by law, or
omitted from such abstract any part of the list of
any person;
(13) Did not take the oath required by law;
(14) Failed to return to the school or the
district clerk the assessment lists of such
district assessment; or
(15) Omitted from the assessment list the
taxable property of any person or corporation
liable to pay taxes.
(b) No assessment list in any town, city or
borough completed prior to the effective date of
this act shall be deemed invalid because the board
of tax review or the members or any member
thereof:
(1) Did not take the oath required by law;
(2) Failed to give notice of the times and
places of its meetings as required by law;
(3) Held its first meeting on some day other
than the day provided by law for such meeting;
(4) Added to the list of any person or
corporation any item of taxable property actually
owned by said person or corporation without giving
the notice required by law;
(5) Increased the list of any person or
corporation, and added to the assessment list the
name of any person or corporation without giving
such person or corporation notice thereof, and the
amount of such list is not excessive or unjust;
(6) Omitted to sign any assessment list or
abstract thereof after the same has been examined
and corrected by said board; or
(7) Failed to return the assessment list or
abstract thereof to the town clerk on or before
the fourth Monday of February in any year.
(c) No tax laid and imposed prior to the
effective date of this act in any town, city,
borough, school district or fire district shall be
deemed invalid because:
(1) The town clerk failed to transmit to the
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management,
when required, an abstract of the assessment lists
of any town, city or borough, on or before the
first day of April in each year;
(2) The proper authorities voted to levy a
tax, but omitted to fix the time when such tax
should become due, and the tax collector has given
notice that the taxes were to become due at a
certain time;
(3) A rate bill or a bill for taxes
heretofore made for the collection of any tax was
not made under the hands of the proper authority
according to law;
(4) The selectmen of any town made their rate
bill from the assessment list made and corrected
by the assessor and board of tax review and lodged
in the town clerk's office and disregarded any
illegal alteration in such list made after such
list and abstract were completed and lodged in the
town clerk's office as aforesaid;
(5) The warrant for the collection of any tax
was not signed and attached to any rate bill as
provided by law; and
(6) A mistake, irregularity or omission
occurred in any of the steps preparatory to the
issuance of a rate bill or bill for taxes for any
tax, or in the preparation or issuance of such a
rate bill or bill for taxes, or in the warrant for
collection thereof, provided such mistake,
irregularity or omission is not shown by the
taxpayer to have made his or her tax materially
greater and that notice of such bill has been
given to the taxpayer.
(d) No tax lien of which a certificate to
continue has been recorded prior to the effective
date of this act in accordance with the procedures
and within the time provided by law in the book of
tax liens in the office of the clerk of the town,
city or borough in which the land upon which such
lien is claimed is situated, shall be deemed
invalid where:
(1) The assessors failed to set a separate
valuation upon separate parcels of real estate
upon which such lien is claimed to exist;
(2) The time when a tax lien continued
thereby became payable to the tax collector was
not correctly stated in such certificate;
(3) The amount of the tax secured by such
lien was or is incorrectly stated therein;
(4) The amount of the tax stated in such lien
included property not liable to taxation in the
town in which such lien is filed;
(5) Such certificate covers several parcels
in one item;
(6) Such certificate does not specify the
portion of the tax that is due from the owner of
such real estate accrued upon each of such
separate parcels;
(7) The property assessed for taxation was
listed in the name of an agent or co-owner instead
of the name of the owner or owners of the property
according to the land records of the town in which
such property lies;
(8) Such certificate was filed in the name of
an agent of the owner or in the name of a co-owner
of such land;
(9) Such certificate purports to continue,
upon all real estate of any person, a lien for the
entire tax that was assessed against any person or
his property;
(10) The tax collector failed to make demand
or levy upon goods and chattels, or failed to file
a lien, until after the expiration of his or her
term of office; and
(11) Such liens have been signed by a
selectman instead of by the tax collector.
(e) No vote or action of any town, city or
borough, or of any board or subdivision thereof,
that fixes the tax rate for any given year upon
the grand list wherein it is provided a discount
in any amount of such tax shall be allowed the
taxpayer in the event such tax is paid on or
before a given date shall be deemed invalid, and
no proceedings or activity thereunder or actions
undertaken by the collector of taxes with
reference thereto, including all obligations and
securities given by him or her for the collection
and payment of such taxes or for the faithful
performance of his or her duties shall be deemed
invalid.
(f) All obligations and securities given by
any collector of taxes for the faithful
performance of his or her duties shall be legal
and binding.
(g) The provisions of this section shall not
be construed as validating any omission to lay any
tax.
(h) All assessment lists in which any
clerical omission or mistake has been made may be
corrected by the assessor or the board of tax
review provided:
(1) If the correction would result in an
increase in the amount of tax due, the correction
may not be made until the owner of the property is
given notice of the omission or mistake and is
given an opportunity to contest the omission or
mistake before the board of tax review;
(2) Where the clerical omission or mistake is
corrected after the board of tax review has
completed by law its duties for any given year, no
tax may be levied and collected as a result of
such correction.
(i) All taxes that have been laid and imposed
according to the assessment lists specified in
this section may be levied and collected.
(j) Notwithstanding the foregoing, no choate
or inchoate tax lien shall be validated against a
purchaser for value without actual or constructive
notice of such tax lien.
Sec. 2. CONDOMINIUMS. (a) No declaration
submitting property under the provisions of
chapter 825 of the general statutes or any
amendments thereto, and no instrument by which the
provisions of said chapter may be waived, shall be
deemed invalid because:
(1) Said declaration or instrument was
attested by one witness only or by no witnesses;
(2) Said declaration or instrument was
executed only by the owners of the fee and not by
the owners of other interests in the land;
(3) Said declaration or instrument was
executed only by the buyer under an executory
purchase or option contract with the owner of the
fee and the buyer subsequently obtained title to
the fee;
(4) Said declaration or instrument fails to
contain a reference to a survey;
(5) A survey was not recorded simultaneously
with the declaration or was not certified
substantially correct by a licensed surveyor or
engineer;
(6) Said declaration or instrument does not
contain the name of the building;
(7) Said declaration or instrument does not
contain a reference to the file number of the
floor plans of the building affected thereby;
(8) The floor plans filed in the office of
the town clerk do not contain a reference to the
original declaration or the verified statement of
a registered architect or licensed professional
engineer.
(b) No deed or other instrument, including
any power of attorney made for the conveyancing,
mortgaging or leasing of a condominium unit in
property under chapter 825 of the general statutes
which deed or instrument contains a description
sufficient to identify the particular unit as well
as the building and land or other property in
which the same is located, but which fails to
include any one or more of the particulars
required by statute with respect to the
description of a condominium unit shall be deemed
invalid because of the failure to include any one
or more of such particulars required by statute.
(c) No declaration submitting the property to
the provisions of chapter 828 of the general
statutes, or any amendments thereto, shall be
deemed invalid because:
(1) The declaration or amendment thereto
shall fail to contain any provision, statement or
information required by statute to be included in
such declaration or amendment;
(2) The declaration or amendment shall fail
to state the formula or formulas used to establish
allocation of interests among units, provided such
declaration or amendment shall set forth an
allocation of such interests among all units
declared in the declaration and all amendments
thereto;
(3) The allocation of interests among units
set forth in the declaration or amendment shall
not in the aggregate equal one hundred per cent of
all such interests, provided the aggregate of such
allocations of interest shall equal at least
ninety-nine per cent of all such interests;
(4) Any survey or plans required to be
recorded or filed as part of the declaration or
amendment were not recorded or filed
simultaneously with the declaration or amendment,
provided such survey or plans were filed or
recorded subsequent to the recording of such
declaration or amendment thereto and before the
effective date of this act and were indexed in a
manner which would lead to their discovery.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of
subsection (c) of section 47-246 of the general
statutes, title (1) to special declarant rights in
a common interest community created pursuant to
chapter 828 of the general statutes owned by a
person or the person's successor purporting to
have succeeded to special declarant rights by
means of a foreclosure or deed in lieu of
foreclosure prior to the effective date of this
act and (2) to units created by such person or
such person's successor, is validated
notwithstanding the failure or inadvertence of
such person to have requested the same in
accordance with said subsection (c) of section
47-246.
Sec. 3. CONVEYANCES. (a) No deed, mortgage,
lease, power of attorney, release, assignment or
other instrument made for the purpose of
conveying, leasing, mortgaging or affecting any
interest in real property in this state and
recorded prior to the effective date of this act
in the land records of the town in which such real
property is located shall be deemed invalid,
because any such deed, mortgage, lease, power of
attorney, release, assignment or other instrument:
(1) Was not acknowledged or was improperly
acknowledged, or the person taking the
acknowledgement did not have the authority to do
so, or the authority of the person taking such
acknowledgement was not properly stated or
authenticated, or the date or place of such
acknowledgment is not stated;
(2) Omits a statement of any consideration;
(3) Was attested by one witness only or by no
witnesses;
(4) Omits or incorrectly states the execution
date;
(5) Was not signed by the grantor but was
acknowledged and delivered by the grantor;
(6) Fails to disclose the date when received
for recording or when the recording fails to
disclose such date;
(7) Contains a date or date of record which
is earlier than the stated date of execution or
acknowledgement, or both;
(8) Does not disclose that the town clerk
appended his or her signature thereto, either on
the deed or in the record book;
(9) Was made to any grantee not recognized by
law to have the capacity to take or hold an
interest in real property, such conveyances to any
such grantee, and subsequent transfers of same by
such grantee, being by this act confirmed as to
such grantee and subsequent transferees, their
heirs, successors and assigns;
(10) In the case of a conveyance or
authorization of such conveyance by a committee of
any society, organization or corporation or by a
committee acting under the authority of any court,
was signed or acknowledged by such committee as an
individual or individuals;
(11) Was made to or by any alien not
authorized by law to hold real estate, such
conveyances to any such alien, and subsequent
transfers of same by such alien, being by this act
confirmed as to such alien and transferee, and
their respective heirs, successors and assigns,
and made effective to all intents and purposes as
though the same had been made to and by a United
States citizen;
(12) Was executed by an attorney-in-fact
pursuant to a power of attorney, but such
instrument was signed or acknowledged by the
attorney-in-fact in his individual capacity;
(13) Was executed by an attorney-in-fact
pursuant to a power of attorney but such
instrument does not reference the power of
attorney;
(14) Was executed by an attorney-in-fact
pursuant to a power of attorney that was effective
prior to the execution of the instrument but was
not at the time of or prior to the recordation of
such instrument recorded on the land records but
is recorded as of the effective date of this act;
(15) In the case of a conveyance to or by a
corporation:
(A) Was signed or acknowledged by only one or
more officers of the corporation individually, but
the corporation is designated in the instrument;
(B) Fails to disclose the official capacities
of the persons executing such instrument;
(C) Was signed or acknowledged by an officer
who had ceased to be such at the time of the
execution or acknowledgement;
(D) Was executed or recorded when the
corporation was not formed or chartered, had not
yet received its corporate franchise, or its
corporate existence had not begun;
(16) In the case of a conveyance by an
executor, administrator, guardian, trustee or
conservator or any other fiduciary:
(A) Was made by a fiduciary authorized or
ordered by a court of probate to sell and convey
the real estate, and the fiduciary sold and
conveyed the same in accordance with such
authority and received the consideration therefor,
but failed to recite in such conveyance the nature
and extent of the power under which he or she
acted;
(B) Was made by a fiduciary who sold and
conveyed the real estate under an order of the
court of probate and received the consideration
therefor but failed in any manner to comply with
such order of such court of probate;
(C) Was made by a fiduciary who sold and
conveyed the real estate by authority of an order
of a probate court without having filed a bond
covering the faithful administration and
distribution of the avails of such sale;
(D) Was made by a fiduciary, who sold and
conveyed the real estate without an order of the
probate court having jurisdiction and received the
consideration therefor and without having
authority to make such sale, provided the same was
made six years or more prior to the effective date
of this act;
(E) Was made to a purchaser for value, at a
time when no publication of the notice of the
probate court of the hearing on the application
for an order of sale was made;
(F) Was executed and delivered by one
purporting to be a fiduciary but no record of
whose actual appointment was contained in the
probate records, provided the conveyance was given
by one who did in fact act as a fiduciary and
whose acts as such were approved by the probate
court having jurisdiction;
(G) Was signed or acknowledged by such
fiduciary individually, rather than in a fiduciary
capacity;
(H) Was executed by the executor under the
will or by the administrator of the estate of or
by the trustee of a trust created by any deceased
nonresident, in the case of a release or
assignment of any mortgage, and a certificate of
the appointment and qualification of such
executor, administrator or trustee issued by the
court having jurisdiction of the estate or trust
of such deceased was not attached thereto;
(17) In the case of conveyance to or by a
partnership or voluntary association:
(A) Was executed in favor of a grantee that
was a voluntary association or a partnership not
created under the Uniform Partnership Act or
Uniform Limited Partnership Act;
(B) Was executed by less than all of the
members of a voluntary association and the
immediate grantor to said voluntary association
but not the voluntary association itself, or by
the voluntary association when execution should
otherwise have been by the members thereof; or
(C) Was executed in the partnership name
although title was in the individual partners;
(18) Was executed to or by a business trust
or a foreign limited partnership in its own name,
whether or not the business trust or foreign
limited partnership had filed a copy of its
declaration of trust or limited partnership
agreement in the Secretary of the State's office
prior to said delivery or execution;
(19) In the case of a notice of lease,
because the same failed to state the term of the
lease, or whether or not the lease was renewable,
or to state whether or not said lease contained an
option to purchase the leased premises or to
extend the term of the lease, or where a copy of
the lease is on file;
(20) Fails to state the town and state in
which the real property described in the
instrument is located;
(21) Contains more than one of the defects
enumerated in this act.
(b) In the case of a real estate mortgage
owned by a ward of any guardian or conservator
foreclosed by such guardian or conservator in an
action brought in the name of the guardian or
conservator of such ward, instead of in the name
of the ward, or judgment was in the name of such
guardian or conservator, or a certificate of title
under foreclosure was recorded in the office of
the clerk of the town in which the property is
located showing title to be in the name of such
guardian or conservator, such judgment shall not
be deemed invalid and title to such foreclosed
property shall be vested in the ward.
(c) No committee deed ordered by the court in
a foreclosure action, recorded prior to the
effective date of this act in the land records in
the town in which such real property is located,
shall be deemed invalid because the approval of
the judge omits or incorrectly states the date of
such approval.
Sec. 4. FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIP WITH
CREDITORS. No order of limitation of time for
creditors to present claims against an estate to
the executor or administrator of such estate shall
be deemed not to have complied with the terms of
such order of the court of probate because:
(1) The executor or administrator of any
estate, the settlement of which has been commenced
six years or more prior to the effective date of
this act, failed to give notice of the order of
limitation of time for creditors to present their
several claims against such estate according to
the order of the court of probate issuing such
order;
(2) The executor or administrator of any
estate, a settlement of which has been commenced
six years or more prior to the effective date of
this act, failed to make a sworn return to the
court of probate of the order of such court
limiting the time for creditors to present any
such claims against such estate.
Sec. 5. MAPS OR PLANS. No deed, mortgage,
lease or other instrument recorded prior to the
effective date of this act transferring any
interest in a lot or lots shown on a filed map or
plan of subdivision shall be deemed invalid to
convey the title to the lot or lots or interest
therein because:
(1) The map or plan was not sealed or
certified by a surveyor or was not prepared by the
owner of the land;
(2) The map or plan was not filed within the
time limitations of any general or special law,
ordinance or regulation;
(3) The map or plan does not have endorsed
thereon the approval of the commission, body or
official required by a general or special law,
ordinance or regulation;
(4) The map or plan fails in any way to
comply with any requirement or requirements of any
special or general law, municipal ordinance or
regulation.
Sec. 6. PLANNING AND ZONING. (a) No
conveyance, mortgage, lease or other transfer of
any interest in land comprising part of a
subdivision shall be deemed invalid to convey the
title to the land or interest described therein
because such land comprises part of a subdivision
that was not submitted for approval to the
municipal planning commission or other municipal
agency charged with the duty of approving
subdivisions.
(b) No use or occupancy of or the presence of
any building or other structure erected on a lot
or lots either shown on a filed or recorded map or
plan of subdivision or located in a subdivision
created by the physical division of land into
three or more parcels shall be deemed illegal or
invalid because the lot or lots on which any such
building or other structure is located is not
shown on an approved plan of subdivision or
because the filed or recorded map or plan of
subdivision fails in any manner to comply with any
requirement or requirements of any general or
special law, ordinance or regulation.
(c) Any and all actions taken by any planning
commission, zoning commission, planning and zoning
commission, zoning board of appeals, building code
board of appeals, inland-wetland agency or any
other commission, board, agency or municipal
official, including a legislative body, exercising
the powers of any such commissions, otherwise
valid except that said planning commission, zoning
commission, planning and zoning commission, zoning
board of appeals, building code board of appeals,
inland-wetland agency or other commission, board,
agency or municipal official, including a
legislative body, failed to comply with the
requirement or requirements of any general or
special law, ordinance or regulation governing the
contents, giving, mailing, publishing, filing or
recording of any notice, either of the hearing or
of the action taken, is validated, provided no
such action shall be validated if an appeal from
such action is pending in any court or the time
for taking such appeal has not expired as of the
effective date of this act.
(d) Nothing contained in this act shall
permit or validate the use of land in violation of
the planning, zoning or inland-wetland regulations
of a municipality.
Sec. 7. PROBATE COURT. The following actions
of any probate court are hereby validated:
(1) The actions of, or pursuant to
authorization by, any probate court having, under
the provisions of the general statutes,
jurisdiction of the estate of any nonresident
decedent, in accepting jurisdiction and ordering
on record a duly authenticated and exemplified
copy of the will of such decedent, with a copy of
the proceedings proving and establishing the same
in another state, and the appointment by such
probate court of an administrator with the will
annexed of such estate, after proceedings
concerning the same had been commenced in another
probate court, which may or may not have
jurisdiction, provided the probate court in which
such proceedings were first commenced shall have
made a finding that it has no jurisdiction and
ordered the proceedings vacated;
(2) All orders of sale of real estate by any
court of probate that are otherwise valid except
that such court made an alternative order of sale
by either public or private sale, instead of
directing the method of such sale as required
under the provisions of the general statutes;
(3) All orders for the limitation of time for
presenting claims against the estate of deceased
persons heretofore made by any court of probate
otherwise valid except that a notice to that
effect was not properly given as required under
the provisions of the general statutes;
(4) The sale and conveyance of any real
estate, or interest therein, pursuant to any valid
order issued by a probate court having
jurisdiction, which sale and conveyance was valid
except for the failure to consummate the same for
a period of ten years or more from the date of the
death of the person owning such real estate,
provided any grantee of any heir or devisee of the
decedent having purchased any interest of such
heir or devisee shall be entitled to the share of
such heir or devisee in the proceeds of such sale,
and further provided if the name or address of any
person entitled to any share in the proceeds of
any such sale shall not be ascertainable by the
probate court, such court shall appoint a trustee
for the share of such person, who shall give a
probate bond and shall hold such share until
demanded by the person or persons entitled
thereto.
Sec. 8. FINANCING STATEMENTS. No financing
statement or assignment or release of a security
interest filed prior to the effective date of this
act with the Secretary of the State pursuant to
article 9 of title 42a of the general statutes
shall be deemed invalid because such financing
statement, assignment or release omits or
incorrectly states the execution date.
Sec. 9. APPLICABILITY. No defects, omissions
or irregularities enumerated in this act shall be
validated if any action, suit or proceeding has
been commenced, or notice of pendency thereof has
been duly recorded on or before the effective date
of this act.
Sec. 10. This act shall take effect from its
passage and shall apply to any defect, omission or
irregularity enumerated in this act which occurred
on or before January 1, 1997.
APPROVED April 18, 1997