Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\nThey say they learned about this years after their loved ones have passed away.<\/p>\n
It impacts hundreds of homeowners across the county – under state law, heirs are eligible for property tax breaks even while finalizing their parents\u2019 estates.<\/p>\n
But they must apply within a year after a loved one has passed away. In these cases, heirs are learning about these bills years later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people are trying to leave a legacy, don\u2019t pull it out from up under them,\u201d Malyndia Brown said. <\/p>\n
Brown said that\u2019s how she felt earlier this year after learning she owed more than $10,000 in back taxes because she didn\u2019t renew the homestead exemption.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more than just my case going up, my attorney had several cases,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
In 2010, Brown moved into the home her parents bought decades earlier to be their caretaker. They passed in 2018. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s one of several Fulton County homeowners who accuse the county of illegally reversing property tax breaks and even threatening foreclosure.<\/p>\n
In Fulton County, homeowners who live in the homes they own receive a significant tax break. In Brown\u2019s case, that\u2019s the difference between an $800 bill and one that\u2019s more than $3,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have represented people for years that have run into this problem,\u201d said attorney Stacy Reynolds, with Atlanta Legal Aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times they had absolutely no idea that they even had a homestead exemption until they get a notice saying it\u2019s being removed,\u201d Reynolds added. <\/p>\n
The lawsuits allege the county waited years before removing the exemptions, billing people years after their family members had died.<\/p>\n
One woman was billed nearly $20,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just really feel like heirs\u2019 property is such an important issue right now,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cAnd there are so many people out there struggling to keep their homes that have been in their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown was able to hire an attorney and won her case, allowing her exemption to be reinstated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy, because during this process in the beginning, I felt like it was just me,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Reynolds says the county has changed its policy on retroactively going after these exemptions, but the class-action suit is needed because of the several homeowners already impacted.<\/p>\n
When reached for comment, county officials said they can\u2019t talk about pending litigation. <\/p>\n
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>]<\/p>\n\u00a92025 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FULTON COUNTY, Ga. \u2014 Attorneys say several seniors and low-income homeowners could be in jeopardy of losing their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[13537,105730,105729,105734,12659,12228,28,76384,76395,105731,2741,3729,105732,147,530,97118,105733,33927],"class_list":["post-177882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-air","tag-ashley","tag-ashley_lincoln","tag-atlanta_legal_aid","tag-attorney","tag-brown","tag-business","tag-channel_2","tag-channel_2_action_news","tag-fulton_county","tag-george","tag-local","tag-melinda_brown","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-reynolds","tag-stacey_reynolds","tag-wsbsyndication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}