§11A-3-6 Purchase by sheriff and clerk of county commission prohibited; co-owner free to purchase at tax sale. - West Virginia Statutes

§11A-3-6. Purchase by sheriff and clerk of county commission

prohibited; co-owner free to purchase at tax sale.

(a) No sheriff, clerk of the county commission or circuit court, assessor, nor deputy of any of them, shall directly or indirectly become the purchaser, or be interested in the purchase, of any tax lien on any real estate at the tax sale or receive any tax deed conveying such real estate. Any such officer so purchasing shall forfeit one thousand dollars for each offense. The sale of any tax lien on any real estate, or the conveyance of such real estate by tax deed, to one of the officers named in this section shall be voidable, at the instance of any person having the right to redeem, until such real estate reaches the hands of a bona fide purchaser.

(b) Any co-owner, except a coparcener, in the absence of satisfactory proof of a fiduciary relationship, shall be entitled to acquire by tax purchase for his own account the tax lien on the interest of any, or all, of his co-owners in any real estate, and to receive a tax deed conveying such interest without being required to hold such tax lien or interest or interests under any constructive trust. There shall be a prima facie presumption against the existence of any such constructive trust.