§542. Procedure

A. Any person applying to enter land under the provisions of this Sub-part shall first make and subscribe an affidavit: (1) that he is the head of a family or has reached the age of twenty-one years and is a citizen of this state; (2) that the application is made honestly and in good faith for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation and to obtain a home for himself and not for speculation; (3) that the application is made for his own use and benefit and not directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person, corporation or syndicate, to give them the benefit of the land or any part thereof or the timber thereon.

B. Upon the filing of the affidavit and application with the Register of the State Land Office and the payment of ten dollars, from which amount the cost of publication provided for in this Section shall be paid, the Register of the State Land Office shall give notice in writing, to the person, firm or corporation in whose name the land was adjudicated to the state, by mailing the notice addressed to the person, firm or corporation in whose name the land was adjudicated to the state, at the post office address of the tax debtor as shown on the tax rolls for the year for which the adjudication was made. The notice shall state, in substance, that application has been made to homestead the land described in the application, and that unless the land is redeemed from the tax sale under which the state holds title to the land within thirty days from the date of the first publication of notice, as hereinafter provided, the application to enter the land will be granted and the land subjected to homestead entry by the applicant.

C. A copy of the notice shall be published in the official journal of the parish in which the land is located, once each week for a period of thirty days, and if there is no official journal published in that parish, publication shall be by posting the notice on the court house door of the parish for a period of thirty days. Weekly publication for four successive weeks shall be deemed publication as herein required.

D. If at the end of the thirty day period, redemption of the land from the tax sale has not been effected, the Register of the State Land Office shall give notice to the applicant, which notice shall be deemed to have been sufficiently given if mailed to the applicant at the post office address given in his application, that the lands so applied to be entered is then subject to and is held for his entry, to be completed within thirty days after the date of the mailing of this notice. If the applicant, within thirty days after the date of the mailing to him of the notice, pays to the Register of the State Land Office the amount of taxes, interest and costs due on the land for the year for which it was adjudicated to the state, which amount shall be paid out and distributed by the register as in cases where payment is made for the redemption of land adjudicated to the state for unpaid taxes, the applicant shall be permitted to make entry of the amount of land specified, and the Register of the State Land Office shall issue to the person his receipt for the amount paid, which receipt shall be dated and numbered and shall describe the land so entered.

E. If the applicant fails, during the period of thirty days after the date of the notice mailed to him during which the land is subject to entry, to make payment of the amount of taxes, interest and costs due on the land applied to be entered for the year for which it was adjudicated to the state, his application shall stand rejected, and the land shall thereupon again become subject to redemption, as provided by law, or to homestead entry by another, under the provisions of this Sub-part.

Amended by Acts 1960, No. 49, §1.