TIITF ROAD EASEMENT RELEASE
State of Florida
Help Information For Eminent Domain Attorneys
By Pastor G. ReckartEminent Domain attorneys have been looking for a way to properly represent their clients in matters regarding Murphy Act road easements. The state of Florida is not helpful in this matter and quite adversarial. A lot of false and misleading information has come out of the offices of the state regarding Murphy Act road easements. In all my talks in Tallahassee with government officials, the only one who had any moral turpitude was attorney Ken Towcimak of the right-of-way department of the Florida Department of Transportation. This man did not in any way give me legal advice but he did enlighten me concerning Murphy Act road reservations. I met no member of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) who showed any moral turpitude in regard to the Murphy Act road easements. In fact what I found there was a den of snakes. On one of my visits I was in the office of Mr. Jack Wolf and had ask him a question. He got up and left the room without comment and disappeared. I sat there a full two hours and he did not return. I got the message and left. I have been made to wait long periods of time when I went there to see Mr. Wolf. He was not the kind of man who would talk facts or give information. You had to pump it out of him if you got it at all. For every question I ask him he had a pat answer. And when I disagreed with him he sat there silent and would not comment on my statements. It was like his mind was in a vacuum and he could only think on one level. When I went to FDOT here in Tampa and talked with Susan Rossetti about the TIITF easements she also was clam-mouthed. It was like it was sin to discuss this matter with the public. It was like from Tallahassee to Tampa there was a code of silence. I learned there were many telephone calls between Tampa and Tallahassee and vice versa over my research into the TIITF road easements. Yes indeed, I made a lot of mistakes in judgment and opinion as I attempted to understand about these road easements. I had to learn all on my own because no one on the government level cared to share information except for Mr. Towcimak. Since my beginning of research I have learned a lot of things. I want to share these with attorneys so they can possibly help their clients.
Instructions to help attorneys with TIITF road reservation issues:
1.) Obtain a copy of the TIITF Deed on your client's property. You can get this from your client, have a chain of title done at the Court House and find it, or you can contact Pastor G. Reckart to obtain it. You must include in your request the address of the property, the folio number, the section-township-range, the complete legal description, (if you know the deed number include that) and click here to order with your credit card. The cost is $50 (Hillsborough County Only).
3.) Send a letter to FDEP asking if any portion of the reservation on the Murphy Act deed has been released. Provide a copy of the TIITF Deed, a copy of the present owner's warranty deed to prove current ownership, and agree to pay for all copies. Sometimes there were partial releases granted and full releases. FDEP keeps very good records on these.
4.) Go read this page and get an understanding on the Certificate in Florida Statute 253.82. Take a copy of the TIITF Deed, a copy of the owner's warranty deed, and go to the Tax Collector's office and speak personally with him and request the Certificate per F.S. 253.82 (1)(a)(b). Make sure the Tax Collector files this with the Clerk of Circuit Court for a legal record. Make sure the Tax Collector himself signs the certificate. Do not accept one signed by some employee of his office. The Statute says the Tax Collector shall file this. Once this is filed the TIITF easement has been released according to F.S. 253.82. The state will deny it and give all sorts of excuses. Do not accept them. This issue has not been tried in court. The arguments that the certificate is valid release of Murphy Act road easements have not been presented in Court. What is circulated is an interpretation of F.S. 253.82 (1984) using F.S. 197.387 (1980). DO NOT ALLOW THIS! Because F.S. 253.82 repealed F.S. 197.387 and completely DIFFERENT wording is used. The different wording expands the identity of property to be released per the Certificate. Read these two over and over and over until you grasp the significance to your client's right to obtain a total release.
5.) Check the recorded Plat of Record for the road, street, avenue, boulevard, circle, etc. to determine the legal name of the street fronting the client's home and property ON THE DATE OF THE CONVEYANCE OF THE MURPHY DEED. Sometimes the name on the Plat is not the same as the name of the road as found in the 1941 Florida Statutes designated state roads. Also, some roads were private owned and were never deeded over to the state, county, or municipality, through a maintenance taking or otherwise. Check to see who owned the streets and alleys adjacent to your client's parcel. Ownership of many roads were held by developers in fee simple and the state must show a right to claim these right-of-ways, when, and how it was done. In many instances the centerline of a name road in the 1941 Statutes has not been legally located in UNPLATTED LANDS as of the date the Murphy Deed was issued. Some roads were moved, relocated, closed, and do not exist any longer. Obtain a list of roads designated as State Roads in the 1941 legislation that covers your county Make sure there is a legal claim on the easement using these documents. AND MAKE ALL SURVEYS USED TO DETERMINE APPRAISED VALUES LOCATE THE TIITF RESERVATION AS OF THE DATE THE MURPHY ACT DEED WAS CONVEYED, AND NOT AS IT MIGHT APPEAR ON ROADS OR STREETS NOW EXISTING ADJACENT TO THE PROPERTY.
6.) Research to see if the Murphy deed is valid. Only those tax delinquent properties "then existing" were taken by the Murphy Act in 1937. For a Murphy Act deed to be valid it must be based upon the fact tax certificates were issued to the State of Florida for tax delinquent lands existing prior to 1937. If the certificate for which a property is sold does not fall within the prior years of 1937 back, it is doubtful a Murphy Act deed would be valid. The tax certificates used to authenticate sale of the Murphy Act lands, are listed in the first column of the deed with number and year. All of these tax certificates MUST BE confirmed and validated. In order to determine this, you must write to the FDEP and ask them for copies of the Murphy Act tax certificates that were the basis of the property being conveyed by a TIITF Deed. This is a real nightmare because they do not want to validify Murphy Act deeds with copies of these certificates. Yet these certificates are the basis for the Murphy Act deed in the first place. If the state cannot produce the tax certificates that authenticates the validity of a TIITF Deed, then the question of the validity of the Deed is raised and the State has the duty to defend this validity. Another point, is that in a vote of the Trustees in 1941 the ONLY LANDS against which road reservations were to be claimed were on those which the Trustees had in their possession (1941 date) from the various Counties certifying these parcels were in fact delinquent and vested title could be claimed by the State. You must make the State prove the Certificates were in the possession of the State and the Trustees as of the 1941 motion. Remember, it is not the validity of the conveyance that we challenge, but rather the validity of the right to sell the parcel based upon true existing tax certificates that are qualified by the criteria set forth by the Trustees. No lawyer in the past 60+ years has ever made the State produce these documents. It is time for good and complete representation of clients by their attorney.
7.) Obtain copies of local maps that might identify roads and streets as well as improvements upon the property. Make sure these are legal maps and promulgated by a government agency. Make sure they were filed of record as required by State law. Many maps used against property owners are not legal maps they were never filed of record. Some maps have hand written numbers and information wherein they are not certified. Locate the legal road maps from FDOT or the County or City where the property is located. Right of Way and Mapping usually have these maps. Research the property on these maps and determine if there was a structure existing thereon on the date the Murphy Act Deed was conveyed. Structures existing on a property before the issuance of a TIITF Deed are exempt from being considered a cloud on the state's easement interest. If any part of these structures are taken in a widening or construction project, the owner is entitled to full protection of eminent domain laws and also a free attorney. The State and political subdivisions thereof, FDEP, FDOT, and other government bodies do not want to pay any money for these road easements. They will refuse to pay the property owner a cash settlement for the whole bundle of rights on the land they are taking. Instead they will offer something like $250 and try to claim the reservation has no value. If the property owner remains steadfast, the government agency will often take the easement and withdraw their law suits and offer nothing. The maps you are looking for are those in the 1920-1945 era because this is the time the TIITF easement reservations are applied to existing roads. FDOT in Tallahassee in Right or Way and Mapping has some of these old maps. Some Counties have these old maps. And some cities show these old maps.
8.) Do a check of the Plat of Record and see if the original owners who filed it reserved ownership of all the streets and alleys. See if they ever conveyed this interest to the local government. If not there is a legal issue if the State can take these right-of-ways when they took the lands for being tax delinquent. Since the streets and alleys were not deeded out, the property owner has no right of title on his deed to the centerline of the street or any existing alley. The state would then have to prove ownership of the street or road. A local government would have to prove ownership. How can the legislature designate a street or a road in a private subdivision to be a State Road if the right-of-way was never taken with the tax delinquent properties? The State can take a road after a period of maintanance but they have to show they are taking it and offer some proof of maintenance. The County and Cities likewise. At issue here is if the State had a right to designate a street or road a State Road in the 1941 legislation, and therefore make a reservation on a Murphy Act deed valid.
9.). You must go to the Tax Collector and have him/her file the Certificate per F.S. 253.82 (1)(a)(b). Bring a copy of the TIITF Deed, a copy of the warranty deed given to the current owner, and a copy of the Florida Statute. Many Tax Collectors HAVE NEVER filed this document before and will be at a loss how to construct one. There is a copy of one on this web page. Print it out and say you want one like this and give a copy to the Tax Collector. Ask how long it will take for them to certify the taxes were paid for 20 years beginning in 1971 and file it? Ask if they will notify you when it has been filed and send you the original. Make your request in writing and being this signed letter with all of the above.
10.) You must obtain road maintenance records to determine if there was any taking of a right-of-way due to the maintenance. You can write a letter to the State, County, or Municipality and state that the roads were private and state the years and any supporting information. Tell them you would like documentation on how and on what date they took possession and if there was ever a legal taking. Sometimes a government entity can file a map as of record and this is constructive notice the right-of-way is taken and the property owner will lose his title interest if he does not protest. If right-of-way was not taken off of a deed and a current owner loses interest there might be a cause to file for a remote breach of covenant warranty. Just because a deed says "less some feet for public ROW" does not mean it was ever conveyed to the government entity, nor that the government entity ever took possession by some legal means. A good attorney will research this out to make sure a Murphy Act road reservation is valid. And also, the state had a right to name a private road a state road without compensation. A current property owner may have a claim against that compensation due a remote holder of title not being compensated, which right may have passed down through the chain of title. I am not a lawyer so I cannot tell if this is a dream or realty. My point here is to confirm the government's right to claim a Murphy Act road easement exist because the validity of the existing state road in 1941 legislation did indeed convey legal possession by the State.
Document everything you do. Take down names and begin to put together a list of people who you may want to depose should this get nasty and they start fighting against all that you are doing. Be prepared for the fight. I have seen all kinds of people with all kinds of spirits and attitudes. These TIITF easements have been a devil to the people of Florida and those in power and control over them want the devil to remain on the loose on their leach.
Inform yourself and do all you can to win this legal battle for your client. I cannot guarantee you will win I can only help to give you some information that might tilt the scales of justice in your favor. If you know a judge it would help if you educated him on the real issues of this matter. If you are an attorney who one day becomes a judge, do not forget your legal duty to have good, just, and equitable laws. Then judge according to right, fairness, and the constitution. Compensation for taking should not be denied the property owner except in rare cases. TIITF reservations have been a problem for Florida since they were initiated. This issue takes up more pages in the Statute book then any other law in the State of Florida.
Don't become offended because a Pastor is pushing for fairness on the TIITF issue.
Pastor Reckart