> In regard to the land in Georgia. Pay the taxes. Transfer the land to a
third
> party, (son, brother. daughter, whatever) give them a quit claim (if you
> don't trust them a lot --- take back a mortgage --- or an option to buy it
> for a dollar and other valuable consulting considerations) Once they
register
> the quit claim the guy who is on the lam is out of the picture and out of
> luck --- oh sure, he could always sue, but this is that kind of situation
> where it's easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission --- and
> this is also one of those situations where possession is nine points of
the
> law.

David, while I can see why one (with less esteem for the niceties than yours truly) might be tempted to avail themselves of that sort of self-help, I'd caution against that course.

There is an old and time honoured legal adage - 'Nemo dat quod non habet' which means that you can't give what you don't have.

The guy in the middle of all that had bare legal title but had passed beneficial title to the land to the person he granted a deed (or whatever form the transfer took in the jurisdiction in question), and can no longer legally deal with it. To do so puts him at considerable risk - if our fugitive recipient had in turn passed a transfer to some third person, perhaps at a very favourable price, if he disclosed that it needed redeeming from tax sale or whatever, and said third person pops up to pay the tax bill, our 'innocent' middleman has just bought himself a lawsuit in which he will NOT come out looking very good!

All our poor schmuck in the middle has is a 'lis' or cause of action against the absconder for money, and perhaps for return of the land. A better course might be to pay the back taxes and file whatever serves as the equivalent of a caveat against the land, to preserve his claim as an unpaid seller, until he can get that claim (now increased by the amount he paid on the taxes) into court, in the absence of the absconder if necessary.

All of which is humbly submitted by your faithful servant....