what is the annual cycle your taxes run on - Jan. to Jan.? When are they next due,and when did you last pay them? That makes a difference on how any refund would be prorated.

I agree that the refund should be allocated somehow, but you haven't given enough information to know how.

Hope this will clarify. Taxes in our county are paid in arrears. The taxes on our house from January '07 thru June '07 were paid by our buyer in January '08. The taxes from July '07 thru December '07 were paid by our buyer in June of '08. But at closing, we gave them the $ for the taxes for January '07 thru July 17 '07. They indeed wrote the checks, but we gave them the $ in advance. So I'm thinking that half the $ at least is ours. What do you think? TIA

Check your closing docs. I believe here in Colorado, one of the forms that is signed at closing says something about not being able to collect money from the buyer/seller, for taxes, after closing.

It does appear then that the 'fair' thing would be for you to receive half the refund, but you may have a difficult time collecting. Matters like these, if you can even collect on them, are typically handled outside of escrow.

My other thought - was that refund just for the previous year, or for many years that the property had been over assessed?

Do not endorse the check until you have talked with the settlement attorney about how the refund should be divided.

I can see both sides of the story. The refund was partially based on taxes you paid. However, why did you never appeal your taxes if you knew they were too high, and why should you share in the refund when the buyer did all the work appealing the taxes to the county? Not trying to be argumentative here, just playing devil's advocate.