Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §4072, as amended by PL 1989, c. 42, §2, is further amended to read:

§4072. Lien for taxes

All property subject to taxes under this chapter, in whatever form of investment it may happen to be, is charged with a lien for all taxes, interest and penalties which that are or may become due on that property. The lien does not attach to any real or personal property after the property has been sold or disposed of for value by the personal representative, trustee or surviving joint tenant. Upon payment of those taxes, interest and penalties due under this chapter, or upon determination that no tax is due, the State Tax Assessor shall upon request execute a discharge of the tax lien for recording in the appropriate registry or registries of deeds.

Any lien that attached to real property after the property was sold or disposed of for value by the personal representative, trustee or surviving joint tenant prior to September 30, 1989 is released by operation of this section.

SUMMARY

Current law provides that an estate tax lien does not attach to real or personal property after the property is sold for value by the personal representative, trustee or surviving joint tenant. For short periods in the past, however, the law allowed liens to attach under these circumstances. For example, as a result of statutory changes in 1988 and 1989, liens were created during the period from August 4, 1988 to September 29, 1989, but not before or after that time period. This bill releases estate tax liens that attached to real property sold by a personal representative, trustee or surviving joint tenant prior to September 30, 1989, so that all property sales since the effective date of the estate tax will be treated the same for purposes of the estate tax lien.