Fort Bend Judicial Appeals Save $21MM / Year
The Fort Bend Central Appraisal District (FBCAD) has been victimizing the people of Fort Bend 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 appeals 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 appeals are the final dagger needed to earn the victory. Enroll in O’Connor’s Property Tax Protection Program(TM) 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.
Fort Bend County Appeals after ARB Hearing
When formal and informal appeals 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 appeals were denied or to add more savings onto 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 497 cases of binding arbitration in Fort Bend County for 2023, the most cases yet.
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 three SOAH meetings in 10 years.
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 | |
Fort Bend County Judicial Appeals
Judicial appeals are the gold standard of post-administrative appeals and are used for the most elite properties possible. While binding arbitration and SOAH are limited to homes in a certain price range, judicial appeals are meant to handle the biggest properties possible. Mansions, industrial plants, commercial properties, and oil refineries are just a few examples of what a Fort Bend County taxpayer might want to appeal. Judicial appeals are also documented to a greater degree than other post-administrative appeals.
984 judicial appeals were filed in Fort Bend County in 2023. Unlike other property tax protests, judicial appeals 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 674.80% since 2014. This is mainly due to the cost of properties and their corresponding taxes being pushed so high that the cost of a judicial appeal is worth the money and risk.