Contact:
Chris Sheffield
Executive Director, Communications
The Office of Shelby County Trustee David Lenoir
csheffield@shelbycountytrustee.com
Contact:
Kate Armitage
Director of Arts, Recreation & Parks
City of Millington
karmitage@cityofmillington.org
The Office of Shelby County Trustee David Lenoir is bringing its informative new series for seniors to Millington’s Baker Community Center Dec. 18.
Titled “Home Sweet Home: A seminar for seniors,” the event will provide seniors information about property taxes, benefit programs and explain the importance of properly transferring real estate to heirs. The seminar will be part of the Millington Senior Club’s weekly meeting and start around 10:15 a.m.
A large percentage of the properties sold at county Tax Sale are typically owned by multiple family members, said Trustee David Lenoir. And there is a reason for that, he said.
Multiple heirs of a single property, unless effectively planned for, can lead to confusion when handling property maintenance and paying taxes, he said. Efforts to sell the property by the private owner(s) or a government entity can be cumbersome, Mr. Lenoir said.
“It is incumbent on government to do due diligence if it plans to sell private property to pay a tax debt,” said Mr. Lenoir “Our Tax Sale department spends valuable resources to locate and inform all possible heirs of a property’s delinquent taxes and a pending tax sale should those taxes not be paid. If the county sells a property at Tax Sale, all owners have to be notified and we search high and low for all the owners.”
The Home Sweet Home workshops explain to seniors the importance of properly transferring property and provide a few simple tips. The Trustee is partnering with Memphis Area Legal Services and the Shelby County Probate Court Clerk to provide legal guidance to workshop attendees.
Trustee staff will explain the tax benefits available to seniors, veterans and the disabled, including Tax Relief, Tax Freeze and Wheel Tax Rebate program. To receive faster processing, the deadline to apply for those programs in the current tax season is Dec. 31.
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