County of Trinity vs. Joe Smith

(Supplemental material for Discussion Board 3b)

Joe Smith owns a home in Trinity County next to a small church. The church owns the lot and has relocated to a different County. The property has been vacant for some time. Smith wants to buy the lot, but the original board members who owned the property have passed and he has not been able to find any of the heirs of the board members to discuss purchasing the property and has learned that no one has paid taxes on the property for some time.

Smith finds out that the County is going to auction off the property in a tax sell next month. Fearing that he would lose the bid on the property at auction to some large investor, he records a Quitclaim Deed transferring ownership to himself for only $1. Smith alleges that he found one of the heirs of the church board member John Jones to sign the property over to him.

The County is suspicious of the validity of the transfer to Smith. Smith did not go through any escrow, he will not produce any real estate purchase agreement, and he refuses to provide any contact information for John Jones. He states that John Jones is out of the country on business. Please discuss whether the purported transfer of the property from Jones to Smith is valid under the Statute of Frauds.

Discuss whether or not Smith has a valid interest in the Property he allegedly purchased from Jones based on the Statute of Frauds and how the transfer via QuitClaim Deed affects the transaction. This has to do with contract law the statue of frauds