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Notes -
There's a timing issue here because the compensation given to the state for the delinquent tax was the property itself not the proceeds from its sale. The landowner has no interest in the surplus because the surplus didn't exist until after the state had taken title to the property and subsequently sold it. Therefore, you'd need some statutory provision to establish that a prior owner was entitled to a surplus.
Think of it this way: Suppose the state had condemned the property under eminent domain for a value of $15,000, and the landowner neither signed off on the sale nor challenged the condemnation in court. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the court awarded the state the property for the $15,000 they had initially offered, and they mailed the landowner a check. Subsequently, the project the government condemned the property for never materialized, and they sold it to a third party for $40,000. Does the prior landowner have a right to the surplus? It would be hard to argue that she does, unless there's some kind of statute saying she's entitled to it.
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