Filing Waiver.pdf

Mathias El Tribe Trust Petitioner V City Of Southfield Respondent · 26-002294-TT

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STATE OF MICHIGAN 

MICHIGAN TAX TRIBUNAL - SMALL CLAIMS DIVISION 

MATHIAS EL TRIBE TRUST, 

Petitioner, 

MIT Docket No. 26-002294 

Tax Year: 2026 

V. 

CITY OF SOUTHFIELD, 

Respondent. 

Parcel No. 76-24-16-201-019 

RENEWED FEE WAIVER REQUEST UNDER TTR 213(4) 

AND STATEMENT OF PETITIONER'S FINANCIAL CONDITTON 

Petitioner, Mathias El Tribe Trust, through Chief Mathias El as Authorized Representative acting 

on behalf of Petitioner, renews its request for waiver of Tribunal fees. This request is submitted under 

TTR 213(4)-and in substantial compliance with the Tribunal's fee-waiver form as permitted by TTR 

213(7). 

Fees for which waiver is sought $200 petition filing fee; $25 fee for accompanying Motion for 

Reconsideration. 

Basis selected on Tribunal 

form 

Item 3 - Petitioner is unable to pay the fees. 

FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR PETITIONER 

Gross income 

Household size 

Source of income 

$0 per month. Petitioner has no operating income or revenue. 

Not applicable as a literal measure because Petitioner is a non-natural trust. See 

Attachment A. 

None. 

Cash / bank funds / liquid assets $0 available. Petitioner maintains no discretionary operating funds available for 

Tribunal fees. 

Property / other assets 

Obligations 

The City/Board record lists $168,900 under "Taxable Value." 

Petitioner disputes that designation and does not concede tax.ability. 

The property is trust corpus, not a liquid litigation-funding resource. 

Administration and preservation of trust property and beneficiary-related 

responsibilities. Petitioner has no operating budget from which the requested fees 

can presently be paid. 

RENEWED FEE WAIVER REQUEST I MIT 26-002294

ATTACHMENT A 

SUPPLEMENTAL GROUNDS FOR RENEWED FEE WAIVER REQUEST 

MTI Docket No. 26-002294 

1. Distinct Basis of the Renewed Request

The October 1, 2026 order addressed the June 12 request under TIR 213(2) because the means-tested

assistance identified there was received by the Authorized Representative rather than by the Trust. This renewed 

request does not ask the Tribunal to attribute the representative's assistance to Petitioner. It presents the Trust's 

own financial condition under TTR 213(4). 

2. 'ITR 213(4) Uses the Term "Party"

TIR 213( 4) provides that the payment of fees is waived when a party shows by written request that it is

unable because of indigence to pay. The same subrule describes indigence through household income below 

125% of the federal poverty level. Petitioner is a non-natural party and therefore has no literal household to 

report. Petitioner asks the Tribunal to apply the inability-to-pay provision to the financial condition actually 

capable of being shown by this Petitioner - zero operating income and no cash or liquid funds - rather than treat 

the household terminology as an unstated categorical exclusion. 

3. Michigan Expressly Uses Individual-Only Language When It Intends That Limitation

Michigan Court Rule 2.002(A)(l), governing fee waivers in the ordinary Michigan courts, expressly states

that only an individual is eligible and that a public or private organization is not eligible unless an applicable 

statute provides otherwise. TIR 213 contains no comparable "individual only" language. Petitioner does not 

contend that MCR 2.002 governs this Tribunal request. The comparison is offered for the narrower textual point 

that Michigan knows how to state an individual-only limitation expressly when that is the intended rule. 

4. The Trust's Non-Natural Status Should Not Be Converted Into Automatic Ineligibility Without

Express Text

The October 1 order states that because the party is a trust, not an individual, it does not qualify for a fee 

waiver under the Tribunal's rules. Petitioner respectfully asks the Tribunal to reconsider or clarify that 

proposition because the prior application was presented under TIR 213(2), while the Trust's inability to pay 

under TIR 213(4) was not the factual basis developed in that request. The first sentence of TIR 213(4) 

addresses a "party"; the rule does not separately state that all non-natural parties are excluded. 

5. Federal-Law Reservation Is Narrow and Consequence-Specific

Petitioner does not contend in this fee-waiver request that every generally applicable Tribunal fee or

ordinary procedural rule is displaced merely because tribal interests are implicated. The accompanying Motion 

for Reconsideration separately addresses the federal access-to-forum and preemption principles implicated if the 

fee/default mechanism is applied as a condition that requires recharacterization or surrender of protected tribal 

interests. See, e.g., Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Engineering, P.C., 476 U.S. 

877, 887-93 (1986). This renewed request asks first for application of the Tribunal's own fee-waiver rule to 

Petitioner's actual financial condition. 

6. Requested Disposition

Petitioner respectfully asks the Tribunal to waive both the $200 petition filing fee and the $25 fee for the

accompanying Motion for Reconsideration. Alternatively, Petitioner asks the Tribunal to promptly decide this 

renewed request and the accompanying reconsideration motion before imposing further monetary-default 

consequences based on nonpayment of those disputed fees. 

RENEWED FEE WAIVER REQUEST I MTT 26-002294

DECLARATION OF AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE 

M1T Docket No. 26-002294 

1. I am Chief Mathias El. I submit this declaration as Authorized Representative, Chief, and Trustee,

acting on behalf of Mathias El Tribe Trust. 

2. To the best of my information, knowledge, and belief, Mathias El Tribe Trust has no operating

income, no available cash, no bank funds, no liquid assets, and no operating account or discretionary 

fund from which the $200 petition fee or $25 reconsideration-motion fee can presently be paid. 

3. The Trust holds the subject Bell Road property. That property is trust corpus and is the subject of the

pending assessment dispute. The Trust does not claim that the property is valueless as property; 

Petitioner's position that no taxable value is lawfully assessable is stated in the Amended Petition. The 

property is not presently an available cash resource from which the Tribunal fees can be paid. 

4. The financial information stated in this renewed request concerns the named Petitioner. This

declaration does not rely on the personal financial circumstances or public-assistance status of the

Authorized Representative as the basis for waiver under TTR 213( 4). 

I declare under the penalties of perjury that I have examined this request and declaration and that 

the foregoing is true to the beˆknowledge, and belief.

Signature/ Stamp: 

Oftkcofthd;tf/11,timmdl\-.iot"' 

CHIEF MATHIAS EL 

Authorized Representative, Chief, and Trustee 

Acting on behalf of Mathias El Tribe Trust

Date: October 1, 2026 

PROOF OF SERVICE 

I certify that on-------‰ 2026, I served the foregoing Renewed Fee Waiver Request 

Under TTR 213(4), including Attachment A and the declaration, on the City of Southfield or its 

attorney/authorized representative by the following method: 

□U.S. Mail □Hand Delivery □Email by agreement

Service address / email from the case record: 

Signature/ Stamp: __________________ _ 

CHIEF MATHIAS EL, Authorized Representative 

RENEWED FEE WAIVER REQUEST I MTT 26-002294 

October 1,

Method of Service: [X] Certified Mail [ ] Hand Delivery [ ] Email by agreement

Certified Mail No.: 9414 8362 0855 1308 0763 67

City of Southfield, Attn: City Clerk, P.O. Box 2055

Southfield, MI 48037-2055

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