Fort Bend Judicial Appeals Save $38MM / Year
The Fort Bend Central Appraisal District (FBCAD) has been victimizing the people of the county for years with some of the most inflated property taxes in America. The taxpayers have dutifully fought back and gotten major wins with informal protests and formal hearings. But sometimes those conventional protests are not enough, and a taxpayer must hit FBCAD with a coup de grâce to get the outcome they deserve. Post-administrative protests are the final dagger needed to earn the victory. Enroll in O’Connor’s Property Tax Protection Program™ today and let them plan your lawsuit for you. From judicial appeal to binding arbitration, you will never pay a single legal fee or upfront cost and will only pay if your lawsuit is successful. Enroll, relax, and save.
Number Appealed to Binding ArbitrationSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Appeals | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Number Determinations appealed | 117 | 137 | 334 | 399 | 165 | 182 | 321 | 335 | 416 | 497 | 435 | |
Texas property owners should protest annually since Texas has one of the best systems for appeals for property owners.
FBCAD Appeals after ARB Hearing
When formal and informal protests fail to cut the mustard during a property tax protest, then the final option is post-administrative appeals. These are lawsuits deployed against the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District (FBCAD) to get a final tax savings. Post-administrative appeals can be used if previous protests were denied or to add more savings to a successful protest. Let O’Connor run your entire post-administrative appeal for you. As one of the biggest property tax protest firms in America, O’Connor is equipped to build your legal team and be your point man throughout the entire process.
FBCAD Binding Arbitration Cases
For most single family homes, binding arbitration is enough to settle things once and for all. A client will be required to put up a deposit, which is returned upon victory, or lost due to defeat. Binding arbitration is limited to family homes that are worth less than $5 million, but this cap becomes unlimited if the property is declared a homestead. There were 435 cases in the county for 2024, which was only behind 2023 with 497.
Appealed to State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH)Source: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Appeals | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Appealed to SOAH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
FBCAD State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH)
If there is a personal home that is worth more than $1 million that needs to be protested, then the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) is the way to go. As it is both new and based on an oddly specific circumstance, SOAH hearings are rarely held, and many counties have never had one held at all. Fort Bend County has had a grand total of seven SOAH meetings in 10 years, with four of them coming in 2024.
Judicial AppealsSource: Texas Comptroller, compiled by O’Connor, and not affiliated with any appraisal district.
| Appeals | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Judicial Appeals | 127.00 | 117.00 | 117.00 | 151.00 | 180.00 | 209.00 | 377.00 | 558.00 | 719.00 | 984.00 | 1,057.00 | |
FBCAD Judicial Appeals
Judicial appeals are the gold standard of post-administrative protests and are used for the most elite properties possible. While binding arbitration and SOAH are limited to homes in a certain price range, these lawsuits are meant to handle the biggest properties possible. Mansions, industrial plants, commercial properties, and oil refineries are just a few examples of what a taxpayer might want to protest. Judicial appeals are also documented to a greater degree than other lawsuits.
1057 judicial lawsuits were filed in Fort Bend County in 2024. Unlike other property tax protests, these lawsuits have grown at the meteoric rate shared by other counties. Judicial appeals have grown each year for the past decade, and the number of cases has increased 732.28% since 2014. This is mainly due to the cost of properties and their corresponding taxes being pushed so high that the cost of a lawsuit is worth the money and risk.