Montgomery County, Tennessee — Tax Sale & Surplus Procedure

Local operations layer. The legal framework (redemption periods, surplus rights, statutes, case law) lives on the parent page → tennessee. This page covers how Montgomery County (Clarksville) actually runs it. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-06-02.

C0. Identity

• County seat: Clarksville
• Population: ~246,025 (FIPS 47125)
• FIPS: 47125
• Recording unit: county
• Parent legal framework: tennessee
• Tax sale type: tax deed (judicial — chancery court in rem proceeding); see tennessee Module 1.
• Judicial district: 19th Judicial District (Chancery Court serves Montgomery and Robertson Counties). (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

C1. Local Tax Sale

Conducts own sale? Yes. The Chancery Court Clerk and Master of Montgomery County administers the delinquent-tax land sale pursuant to court decree. The Montgomery County Trustee collects taxes and certifies parcels delinquent two (2) or more years; the delinquent-tax attorney files suit in chancery court; upon the court’s Order of Sale, the property is sold. The Trustee and the City of Clarksville participate in identifying delinquent parcels. (Sources: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale; montgomerytn.gov/trustee/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Platform: Online via GovEase (govease.com). “You may register to bid on the properties through www.govease.com. Instructions for registration are available on their website. Registration will open two weeks before the sale.” (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Note: The Trustee’s older tax-sale page still describes an in-person sale held at the Montgomery County Courts Center, 2 Millennium Plaza, Downtown Clarksville (day-of-sale registration, no fee). The current Chancery Court tax-sale page (the authoritative office that conducts the decree sale) specifies online bidding through GovEase. Where the two county pages conflict, the Chancery Court page governs the actual decree sale. needs_verification — whether the September 17, 2026 sale is conducted entirely online via GovEase, in person, or hybrid; the Trustee page may be stale.

Sale calendar:

• Frequency: Annual. The Trustee’s office states it “holds tax sales throughout the year”/annually for parcels delinquent two or more years. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/trustee/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)
• Next known sale: September 17, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. “The 2026 Tax Sale will be held on September 17, 2026, at 10:00am.” (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)
• Registration window: Opens two weeks before the sale via GovEase. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Parcel / delinquent list location:

• “The list of parcels that have been ordered to be sold will be available in mid August.” The list “is revised periodically as taxes are paid, but the final list of parcels to be sold will not be generated until the day of sale.” Obtainable from the Clerk and Master’s Office during business hours. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)
• The Trustee mails certified-mail notices to owners and publishes a “Notice of Tax Sale” in local newspapers listing parcel number, owners, and base amount due. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/trustee/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Opening bid: Montgomery County opens each parcel “with a beginning bid for the amount of taxes due including interest, penalty and additional fees,” with the property going to the highest bidder. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/trustee/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.) See tennessee Module 1.

Deposit / payment terms: Payment in full required within 48 hours of the sale, in the form of cashier’s check, money order, or cash. Personal checks and credit-card payments are not accepted. The buyer also pays the transfer tax (sale price ÷ 100 × 0.0037). (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Conflict note: The Trustee page states payment “in full within 2 hours after the sale concludes,” while the Chancery Court page states 48 hours. The Chancery Court page is the authoritative decree-sale page; treat 48 hours as controlling but confirm at registration. needs_verification.

Bidder disqualifications (from tennessee): A person with a “moral or legal obligation to pay the taxes” on the parcel, and fiduciaries of the taxpayer, are disqualified. Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2501 et seq.

Rules of Tax Sale: A “Rules of Tax Sale” PDF is published by the Chancery Court at montgomerytn.gov/storage/departments/chancery/2024 Tax Rules/Rules of Tax Sale.pdf. needs_verification — The document is a scanned image PDF; its full text could not be extracted (no embedded text layer). Confirm registration/deposit specifics directly with the Clerk and Master.

C2. Local Redemption → framework: right-of-redemption

Where to redeem: Redemption is a chancery court proceeding. The redeemer pays the required funds and files in the Montgomery County Chancery Court (Clerk and Master’s Office), 2 Millennium Plaza, Suite 101, Clarksville, TN 37040; (931) 648-5703. The Trustee’s page instructs owners to “contact the Trustee’s office with the exact sale date” to begin the redemption inquiry, but the motion to redeem and payment run through the Chancery Court that confirmed the sale. (Sources: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale; montgomerytn.gov/trustee/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.) See tennessee Module 2.

Redemption period (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2701(a)): Montgomery County’s published material describes a one-year redemption period: “The one-year redemption period ends one year after the Order Confirming Sale is entered.” (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.) The one-year period applies where the parcel was delinquent ≤ 5 years; the state statute shortens the period for longer delinquencies and abandonment:

Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2701(a). See tennessee Module 2.

Cost to redeem: Full bid/minimum amount + statutory interest on the purchaser’s purchase price + court costs + any court-ordered lawful charges (additional taxes paid, reasonable improvements, insurance, HOA dues, etc.). The state statute fixes the interest at 12% per annum on the purchaser’s entire purchase price from payment to the filing of the motion to redeem (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2701(b),(d),(e)). See tennessee Module 2.

Rate discrepancy: The Montgomery County Trustee page states redemption requires “the bid price plus up to 10% per annum interest.” This conflicts with the 12% per annum figure in Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2701(b). The statute controls; the Trustee figure appears to be a stale or imprecise summary. needs_verification — confirm the exact interest figure applied by the Clerk and Master at redemption.

Who keeps occupancy during redemption: “The purchaser does not have the right to collect rent from or remove current occupants unless a writ of possession is obtained.” (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.) Consistent with tennessee Module 5/§67-5-2503.

Local fee for a Motion to Redeem: needs_verification — No specific filing fee published online; contact the Clerk and Master at (931) 648-5703.

Federal IRS redemption overlay: If the IRS holds a recorded lien, the federal government retains a 120-day right of redemption from the sale date (26 U.S.C. § 7425), running alongside the state clock. See tennessee Module 7b.

Deviations from state default: None identified beyond the rate-summary discrepancy above. Montgomery County follows the Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2701 framework.

C3. Local Surplus / Excess Proceeds → framework: surplus-funds

BUSINESS-CRITICAL: Surplus / excess proceeds in Montgomery County are a chancery court matter, governed by Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2702. Claims are filed as a verified motion in the same chancery court case that produced the sale — not with the Trustee, Sheriff, or any administrative desk.

Claim filing venue:

• Court: Chancery Court for the 19th Judicial District (Montgomery County), Tennessee
• Filing office: Montgomery County Chancery Court Clerk and Master’s Office
• Clerk and Master: Heather L. Moore, JD
• Address: 2 Millennium Plaza, Suite 101, Clarksville, TN 37040
• Phone: (931) 648-5703 · Fax: (931) 648-5759
• Email: ClerkandMasterInfo@montgomerytn.gov
• Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
• Official website: montgomerytn.gov/chancery

Statutory authority: Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2702(a) — “any interested person” may file a motion in the chancery court in which the delinquent-tax proceeding is pending, after the Order Confirming Sale is entered. See tennessee Module 3 for the full priority waterfall (remaining/subsequent taxes → pre-sale lienholders by priority → post-sale lienholders → the taxpayer/former owner → unclaimed property).

How the county describes excess proceeds: Montgomery County’s tax-sale page states only that “if there are additional taxes for other years (2024 and/or 2025), they will be paid from the excess proceeds of the sale, if there are enough funds to pay them.” (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.) This reflects waterfall step (1) (subsequent taxes); the residual still runs the § 67-5-2702(c) waterfall to lienholders and the former owner.

Claim form:

• Name: Motion to Claim Excess Sale Proceeds (verified motion under § 67-5-2702).
• URL: needs_verification — Montgomery County does not publish a county-specific excess-proceeds motion form online (confirmed by search; contrast Davidson and Knox Counties, which publish theirs). The motion is drafted to § 67-5-2702 and filed with the Clerk and Master. Other Tennessee counties’ published forms (e.g., Davidson County’s “Motion to Claim Excess Sale Proceeds” at chanceryclerkandmaster.nashville.gov) are facially generic and useful as templates. Contact the Clerk and Master at (931) 648-5703 for the operative local form.

Who may file: Any “interested person” — owner-interest holder, lienholder, or lienholder’s assignee — as defined in Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2502(c). A tax-sale purchaser may not claim excess proceeds. See tennessee Module 3.

Local deadline: A motion may be filed until the funds are forwarded to the State under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. The abandonment presumption does not arise until the final determination of all redemption/excess-proceeds motions or one year after the redemption period expires, whichever is later (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2702(c)(5)). After escheat, funds are reclaimable from the Tennessee Department of Treasury unclaimed property division.

Unclaimed-funds list published by county? needs_verification — No running list of pending or unclaimed excess proceeds was located on the Montgomery County Chancery Court or Trustee website. (Note: the Trustee’s separate “surplus property” inventory — government-acquired parcels that drew no third-party bid and were not redeemed — is a different program from excess-proceeds claims; it concerns resale of county/city-owned land, not cash owed to former owners.)

Contact: Montgomery County Chancery Court Clerk and Master, (931) 648-5703, ClerkandMasterInfo@montgomerytn.gov.

▸ For Investors / Operators — Montgomery County conducts an annual GovEase-platform decree sale (next: Sept. 17, 2026), with full payment due within 48 hours by certified funds and a buyer-paid transfer tax (sale price ÷ 100 × 0.0037). Title is a tax deed subject to a one-year redemption (shorter for long-delinquent or abandoned parcels, tennessee §2), and a tax-sale purchaser cannot claim the surplus. For the marketable-title path (quiet title in chancery, the § 67-5-2504 1-to-3-year challenge window) see tennessee §5b; for surviving liens (federal tax lien if the U.S. was not § 7425-noticed, IRS 120-day redemption, § 66-27-415 condominium super-priority) see tennessee §7b.

▸ For Former Owners — If a Montgomery County tax sale brings more than the taxes, penalty, interest, and costs, the residual reaches the former owner last in the § 67-5-2702(c) waterfall, and any remainder is held as unclaimed property for the owner rather than kept by the county. The claim is a verified motion in the Montgomery County Chancery Court (Clerk and Master, 2 Millennium Plaza Suite 101, (931) 648-5703); an ownership claimant must record a deed or affidavit of heirship at least 30 days before the hearing. Redemption (§C2) restores the property by paying taxes/penalty/interest/costs plus statutory interest within the one-year window after the Order Confirming Sale.

C4. Offices & Contacts

Note on Sheriff’s role: Tennessee delinquent property tax sales are conducted by the Chancery Court Clerk and Master — not the Sheriff. Montgomery County mortgage foreclosures are primarily non-judicial (power-of-sale under a deed of trust, administered by the trustee named in the deed of trust). The Sheriff’s role in property sales is not confirmed from retrieved sources.

C5. Local Procedure Notes

Online (GovEase) decree sale: The current Chancery Court tax-sale page directs bidders to register at govease.com, indicating Montgomery County has moved its delinquent-tax decree sale to the GovEase online platform — a departure from the older in-person model still described on the Trustee page. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

48-hour certified-funds payment: Winning bidders must pay in full within 48 hours by cashier’s check, money order, or cash — no personal checks or credit cards — plus a transfer tax computed as sale price ÷ 100 × 0.0037. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Two-year delinquency threshold: Parcels enter the tax sale only after taxes are delinquent two or more years. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/trustee/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Final list generated day-of-sale: Because owners may pay up to the day before the sale, the binding parcel list is not finalized until the sale day; a preliminary list is available “in mid August.” (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Writ of possession required for occupancy: A purchaser cannot collect rent from or remove occupants without obtaining a writ of possession from the court. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

E-filing available: The 19th Judicial District Chancery/Circuit Courts (Montgomery and Robertson) offer electronic filing. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery, retrieved 2026-06-02.)

Cross-page conflicts: The Trustee page (2-hour payment, 10% redemption interest, in-person sale) conflicts with the Chancery Court page (48-hour payment, online GovEase) and with state statute (12% redemption interest). The Chancery Court page and the statute control; the Trustee page appears partly stale. See C1/C2 conflict notes.

C6. Records Access

Register of Deeds online deed search: needs_verification — A direct public deed-image search URL was not confirmed on the Register’s page; the office references a Tennessee tax/fee calculator but no self-service deed-search portal was retrieved.

C8. Title & Quiet Title → framework: tennessee §5b

• Title type: tax deed (redeemable deed) — Tennessee sells the land subject to the statutory post-sale redemption right, not a lien certificate. See tennessee Module 1.
• Quiet title required? Not legally mandatory, but practically essential for obtaining title insurance on a Tennessee tax-deed parcel. Most insurers will not write until the redemption period and the § 67-5-2504 challenge window (1 year, extendable to 3) have run or a quiet-title decree is entered. See tennessee §5b.
• Action type / court: Judicial, filed in the Montgomery County Chancery Court (19th Judicial District) where the property sits. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 29-1-101 et seq.; § 67-5-2504(d)(4) authorizes a tax-sale purchaser to file to quiet title even after the challenge deadline. See tennessee §5b.
• Typical timeline: ~6–12 months for an uncontested action (statewide range; see tennessee §5b). needs_verification — Montgomery County-specific chancery timeline not separately confirmed.
• Typical cost range: ~$2,000–$5,000 uncontested (statewide range; see tennessee §5b). needs_verification — Montgomery County-specific cost not separately confirmed.
• Title insurers active locally: needs_verification — Specific underwriters writing Montgomery County tax-deed parcels were not confirmed from a retrieved source. Tennessee statewide practice (quiet title before insuring; Tax Title Services certification alternative) is in tennessee §5b.
• Deed seasoning: Insurers commonly require the redemption period plus the § 67-5-2504 window to run (or a quiet-title decree). See tennessee §5b.

C9. Purchaser Obligations During Redemption → framework: tennessee §10b

• Subsequent-tax payment office: Montgomery County Trustee, 350 Pageant Lane, Suite 101-B, Clarksville, TN 37040; (931) 648-5717; online at montgomery-tn.mygovonline.com. A tax-sale purchaser who pays post-sale ad valorem taxes may recover them from a redeemer as a “lawful charge” (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2701(e)). The county notes that subsequent-year taxes (e.g., 2024/2025) are paid first from any excess proceeds. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.)
• Notice-to-owner procedure: Redemption and lawful-charge practice run through the Chancery Court Clerk and Master: after a motion to redeem is filed, the clerk mails notice of redemption; the purchaser then has 30 days to move for lawful charges or to protest (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2701(d)). See tennessee §10b.
• Redemption-payment office: Montgomery County Chancery Court (Clerk and Master), 2 Millennium Plaza, Suite 101, Clarksville, TN 37040; (931) 648-5703 — the redeemer pays the clerk and files the motion to redeem. (The Trustee’s office directs owners to confirm the exact sale date but the redemption mechanics are a chancery-court function.)
• Occupancy / access: The purchaser may not collect rent from or remove occupants during redemption without a writ of possession from the court. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/chancery/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.) Possession and risk of loss otherwise pass to the purchaser on the confirmation order (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2503; see tennessee Module 5/9).

C10. Local Restrictions → framework: tennessee §11b

• Land bank? No dedicated land-bank authority identified for Montgomery County. Instead, parcels that draw only the opening (government) bid and are not redeemed pass into the surplus-property inventory of Montgomery County Government or the City of Clarksville, which may periodically conduct a public sale of surplus property. (Source: montgomerytn.gov/trustee/tax-sale, retrieved 2026-06-02.) needs_verification — Whether any formal Tennessee land-bank statute (e.g., a county land bank corporation) is in effect locally was not confirmed; the program described is a government surplus-property resale, not a statutory land bank.
• Right of first refusal active locally? No local ROFR identified. No municipal/land-bank right of first refusal over tax-sale parcels was located in retrieved sources. The functional equivalent is that the county/city takes title when no third-party bid exceeds the opening bid (above). needs_verification.
• Entity / insider restrictions: Local application of the state rule only — a person with a “moral or legal obligation to pay the taxes” on the parcel and the taxpayer’s fiduciaries are disqualified from bidding (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2501 et seq.; see tennessee Module 1). No additional Montgomery County entity/insider ordinance was located. needs_verification.

C7. Meta

Parent state: tennessee Last verified: 2026-06-02 Confidence: 0.86 Completeness score: 0.83 Gap score: 9

Sources retrieved:

needs_verification (9 remaining — all Row 2):

1. Whether the Sept. 17, 2026 sale is conducted fully online via GovEase, in person, or hybrid (Chancery page says GovEase; Trustee page still describes in-person — Trustee page may be stale).
2. Payment deadline conflict: 48 hours (Chancery page) vs. 2 hours (Trustee page) — confirm controlling rule at registration.
3. Redemption interest rate conflict: state statute fixes 12%/yr (§ 67-5-2701(b)); Trustee page summarizes “up to 10%/yr” — confirm figure the Clerk and Master applies.
4. Filing fee for a Motion to Redeem (not published online).
5. Montgomery County-specific excess-proceeds (Motion to Claim Excess Sale Proceeds) form — no county form published online; other counties’ forms are templates.
6. Whether a running public list of pending/unclaimed excess proceeds is maintained and published by the county.
7. Sheriff’s name, address, and phone (role in property sales not applicable, but office contact unconfirmed).
8. Register of Deeds self-service online deed-image search portal URL.
9. Whether any formal Tennessee land-bank corporation / statutory ROFR is in effect locally (only a government surplus-property resale program was confirmed); local quiet-title timeline/cost and active title insurers are inherited from tennessee §5b and not separately confirmed for Montgomery County.

Cross-links: tennessee, right-of-redemption, surplus-funds, tyler-v-hennepin-county, bankruptcy-automatic-stay, scra-protections, federal-tax-lien-redemption, heirs-property, third-party-recovery-rules, davidson-tn, knox-tn, shelby-tn, rutherford-tn

Changelog:

• 2026-06-02: Page created. Research conducted against official Montgomery County Chancery Court, Trustee, Register of Deeds, and Assessor pages, plus the GovEase platform. Confirmed: 2026 Tax Sale Sept. 17, 2026 via GovEase, 48-hour certified-funds payment, transfer tax formula, one-year redemption from Order Confirming Sale, writ-of-possession requirement for occupancy. Identified office holders: Clerk & Master Heather L. Moore, JD; Trustee Kimberly B. Wiggins; Register of Deeds Julie Runyon; Assessor Erinne Hester. Flagged Trustee-vs-Chancery and Trustee-vs-statute conflicts (sale venue, payment window, redemption interest). Surplus/excess-proceeds claim is the state-law § 67-5-2702 motion in chancery court (no county-specific form published). Nine remaining gaps are Row 2 (needs_verification) only.

Disclaimer: This page contains legal information, not legal advice. Laws, procedures, deadlines, and contact details change. Verify all information against current official sources before acting. Consult a licensed Tennessee attorney for advice specific to your situation. The authors of this wiki assume no liability for errors or omissions.