SECTION 1. Sections 44-9-10, 44-9-11, 44-9-23, 44-9-24 and 44-9-27 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-9 entitled "Tax Sales" are hereby amended to read as follows:

44-9-10. Notice of sale to taxpayer. -- (a) Whether or not the person or general partnership to whom the estate is taxed as of December 31^st prior to the tax sale is a resident of this state, the collector shall, in addition to the foregoing, notify the taxpayer of the time and place of sale either by registered or certified mail sent postpaid to the taxpayer's last and usual place of abode street address of the real estate liable for payment of taxes, and, if different, to the taxpayer's address listed with the tax assessor's office of the city or town where the real estate is located or to any other address which the taxpayer designates by written notice to the tax assessor, or to the address of the taxpayer stated on the deed recorded in the land evidence records of the city or town where the real estate is located or to the last known address of the taxpayer not less than twenty (20) days before the date of sale or any adjournment of the sale, or be left at the taxpayer's last and usual place of abode, known address or personally served on the taxpayer not less than twenty (20) days before the date of sale or any adjournment of the sale, but no notice of adjournments shall be necessary other than the announcement made at the sale.

(b) Persons aged sixty-five (65) years and over or persons suffering from a disability may designate a third party to whom notice may be sent as required pursuant to this section by advising the tax assessor of the name and address of the person.

(c) If the estate taxed is a corporation, the notice may be sent either by registered or certified mail to its place of business or left at the business office of the corporation with some person employed there.

(d) In the event the person to whom the estate is taxed is listed in the records of the assessor and/or collector as having applied for and been granted a property tax abatement based wholly or partially on the age of the taxpayer, then the collector shall also notify the department of elderly affairs by registered or certified mail postage prepaid not less than twenty (20) days before the date of the sale. Failure to notify the department of elderly affairs shall not affect the validity of a tax sale.

44-9-11. Notice to mortgagees and other parties in interest. -- (a) In case the collector shall advertise for sale any property, real, personal, or mixed, in which any person other than the person to whom the tax is assessed has an interest, it shall not be necessary for the collector to notify the interested party, except for the following interested parties, provided that their interest was of record at least ninety (90) days prior to the date set for the sale: mortgagees of record and mortgage assignees of record, former fee holders whose right to redeem has not been foreclosed, holders of tax title, federal agencies having a recorded lien on the subject property, holders of life estates of record, and vested remainderment remaindermen whose identity can be ascertained from an examination of the land or probate records of the municipality conducting the sale, and/or their assignees of record who shall be notified by the collector either by registered or certified mail sent postpaid not less than twenty (20) days before the date of sale or any adjournment of the sale, to an agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process, or to the address of the party in interest set forth in the recorded mortgage document or the recorded assignment, or to the last known address of the party in interest, but no notice of adjournments shall be necessary other than the announcement made at the sale. The posting and publication of the notice of the time and place of sale in the manner provided by section 44-9-9 shall be deemed sufficient notice to all other interested parties. This provision shall apply to all taxes levied prior to and subsequent to 1896.

(b) Only a person or entity failing to receive notice in accordance with the provisions of this section and sections 44-9-9 and 44-9-10 shall be entitled to raise the issue of lack of notice or defective notice to void the tax sale. The right to notice shall be personal to each party entitled thereto and shall not be asserted on behalf of another party in interest. If there is a defect in notice, the tax sale shall be void only as to the party deprived of adequate notice, but shall be valid as to all other parties in interest who received proper notice of the tax sale.

(c) Once a petition is filed under section 44-9-25, and any party in interest entitled to notice of the tax sale receives actual notice of the pendency of the petition to foreclose, such party must raise the notice defense in accordance with the provisions of section 44-9-31 or be estopped from alleging lack of notice in any action to vacate a final decree entered in accordance with section 44-9-30.

44-9-23. Certificate of redemption money paid to treasurer. -- The treasurer shall receive any money paid to him or her instead of the purchaser or assignee of a tax title, and, if the period of one (1) year has not passed from the date of sale, give to the person paying it a certificate specifying the amount paid, the name of the person to whom and the real estate on which the tax was originally assessed, and the registry of deeds and the book and page of the records where the collector's deed and the instrument of assignment, if any, is recorded; and the recording of the certificate in the registry shall extinguish all right and title acquired under the collector's deed (Form 4).

44-9-24. Title absolute after foreclosure of redemption -- Jurisdiction of proceedings. -- The title conveyed by a tax collector's deed shall be absolute after foreclosure of the right of redemption by decree of the superior court as provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding the rules of civil procedure or the provisions of chapter 9-21, no decree shall be vacated except in a separate action instituted within one (1) year following entry of the decree and in no event for any reason, later than one (1) year following said entry of decree. Furthermore, such action to vacate shall only be instituted for inadequacy of notice amounting to a denial of due process or for the invalidity of tax sale. The superior court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the foreclosure of all rights of redemption from titles conveyed by a tax collector's deed, and the foreclosure proceedings shall follow the course of equity in a proceeding provided for in sections 44-9-25 -- 44-9-33.

44-9-27. Examination of title -- Notice to interested parties of foreclosure petition. -- (a) Upon the filing of a petition, the petitioner shall, at his or her own cost, select, with the approval of the court, a title company or an attorney familiar with the examination of land titles, this company or attorney shall make an examination of the title sufficient only to determine the persons who may be interested in the title, and the petitioner shall, upon the filing of the examiner's report, notify all persons appearing to be interested, whether as equity owners, mortgagees, lienors, attaching creditors, or otherwise, as well as the tax collector in the municipality where the subject property is located, of the pendency of the petition, the notice to be sent to each by registered or certified mail and return of receipt required. Other and further notice by publication or otherwise shall be given as the court may at any time order.

(b) The notice, to be addressed "To all whom it may concern," shall contain the name of the petitioner, the names of all known respondents, a description of the land, and a statement of the nature of the petition, shall fix the time when appearance may be entered, and shall contain a statement that unless the party notified shall appear within the time fixed a default will be recorded, the petition taken as confessed, and the right of redemption forever barred (Form 6).

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on January 7, 2003.