In this day and age, all it takes is a simple key stroke and anyone can find a plethora of personal information about a person. Have you considered that in your line of work, people may take advantage of this wealth of information and use it against you? You want to make sure you and your family are safe. The State of Texas understands this and has measures in place to create more security around your personal information.
In Texas, appraisal district information is Public. All one needs to do is go to the county website and do a property search using an address or a name and you will find all sorts of information. For peace officers who are also property owners, there is a way to remove your information, so no one is able to access it. Be mindful that it will make the process a tad more difficult when listing the property for sale. None of the information typically needed for a real estate transaction will be accessible by the real estate agent, lender or title company. When that time comes, you’ll need to do some of the groundwork to obtain this information for them. It’s a small price to pay though for the added security of not having your address accessible to the public.
So what are the steps to begin this process? To request your information become confidential, you’ll need to complete the pdf form below and file it with the appraisal district in the county where the property is located. You can find your appraisal district here: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/county-directory/ There are several others that may qualify for this as well, including retired peace officers, spouses and children, judges, domestic violence victims, etc. For an exhaustive list and specifics on the law, here is the specific Tax Code for which it concerns: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.25.htm.
Once submitted and approved, your information will be removed from the appraisal district website and you can rest a little easier at night.
| Request for Confidentiality Under Tax Code Section 25.025 |