Lankford says the property was her home for over 20 years and should not have been auctioned. (Representational photo)
A Texas woman whose home was auctioned for $20,000 in 2018 to recover money owed in an unrelated dispute was given another chance by the court to challenge the sale on Wednesday. Francine Lee Lankford says the property had been her home for more than 20 years and should never have been put up for auction. The dispute began with a small-claims judgment against Lankford in Lee County in 2017, according to the judgment document available on Justia. Even so, the following year, her property at 418 Taylor Road in Elgin, Bastrop County, was put up for sale to recover the amount. She also raised concerns about the way the 2018 auction had been handled.
Lankford told the court that she had been living at the Elgin property since the mid-1990s. She had used it as her main residence for more than two decades and had never treated another property as her permanent home, according to her account. After years of litigation, the Texas Court of Appeals ruled that her claim deserves further examination. However, the ruling does not mean she has recovered the property. The money she owed was not connected to the purchase of her house or any unpaid property taxes. At the centre of her challenge was a protection available to homeowners under Texas law, known as homestead protection. The provision prevents a person’s main home from being forcibly sold to recover ordinary debts. Lankford’s challenge was not limited to the property’s status as her home. her argument about the home’s protected status helped her case Although Lankford’s objection to the auction procedure failed.