Duval County Tax Deed Sale: What Jacksonville Owners and Heirs Can Still Do

The Duval County Clerk's calendar lists 14 online tax deed auctions in 2026, the last on Wednesday, October 28. The next date it shows is January 13, 2027¹. If your home, or a late parent's home, could be headed for a Duval County tax deed sale, you have more ways to act than the auction site lets on.

Here is that process from the owner's side, step by step, with two Jacksonville cases.

How does a Duval County tax deed sale start?

It starts with one unpaid tax bill, and the auction comes at least two years later. Bills go out in November and are due by March 31. Anything unpaid is delinquent, or overdue, on April 1².

Next, on or before June 1, the Tax Collector sells a tax certificate on each unpaid bill². Duval's 2026 certificate sale was set for May 27, online. Investors bid on the interest rate, and the lowest rate wins³.

A certificate isn't a deed. The Tax Collector calls it "a first lien against real estate (not the owner)"³. A lien is a legal claim on property for money owed.

The holder can't contact you to demand payment until two years after April 1 of the year the certificate was issued⁴. After those two years, the holder can apply for a tax deed, and that sets up the auction⁵.

When are Jacksonville's tax deed auctions held?

Online, on Wednesdays at 9 a.m., once or twice a month from January through October. The Clerk's calendar lists 14 sales in 2026 and 16 in 2025¹. Bidding takes place on duval.realtaxdeed.com, where the Clerk posts each sale's property list 30 days ahead⁶.

Before a home can be sold, Florida law requires several warnings:

• A newspaper notice once a week for four weeks. In Duval it runs in the Financial News and Daily Record^6,7. The sale can't take place until 30 days after the first notice⁷.
• A certified letter from the Clerk at least 20 days before the sale. It goes to the people on the Tax Collector's list⁸.
• A sheriff's notice to the owner of record at least 20 days before. If no one can be served, the sheriff posts it at the last known address⁸.
• A public record. The Clerk records a notice of the tax deed application in the Official Records, the county's public land records⁵.

There's a catch. The Clerk may rely on the Tax Collector's addresses and has no duty to dig further, because owners "are presumed to know that taxes are due"⁸.

A letter you never got doesn't, by itself, undo a sale⁸. So make sure the mailing address on your tax bill is one you actually check.

How do you check if your home is headed to auction?

Search your parcel number on the Clerk's free tax deed site. If a case is open, the results show its sale date, status, opening bid and any surplus¹.

Can you still stop the sale, and how?

Yes. Pay the Tax Collector in full before the Clerk receives the winning bidder's full payment. The Clerk's FAQ and Florida law set the same cutoff^6,9.

To redeem, the FAQ says, an owner or mortgage holder pays the overdue taxes "and all costs associated with the process"⁶. That cutoff comes fast. Winning bidders must pay in full by 4 p.m. the next business day⁶.

After that, Florida law lists only a few grounds for undoing a tax sale, such as proof the home was redeemed in time¹⁰. Courts have also voided sales over faulty notice, as the Delta case below shows. The Clerk's FAQ says a former owner can take the sale to court, where "the judge will decide"⁶.

If the home has a homestead exemption, the opening bid adds half of its assessed value^5,6. That raises the price a bidder must pay, and the added amount is handled as surplus¹³.

To stay current next year, the Tax Collector's installment plan spreads the bill over four payments¹².

Table sources: Duval County Tax Collector³, Duval County Clerk^6,14,18 and City of Jacksonville¹⁷.

Sale dates, phone numbers and links in this guide were checked on October 25, 2026.

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Who gets the money if your home sells for more than the taxes?

The extra pays government liens first, then other valid liens, and then the former owner. You have to file a claim to get it.

The Clerk mails a Notice of Surplus Funds to the people entitled to notice, and claims are due within 120 days¹³. In the words of the Clerk's form, "The Clerk must pay all valid liens before distributing surplus funds to a titleholder / owner"¹⁴.

Here is what a claim needs, from the Clerk's surplus claim form¹⁴:

• The form itself, complete and signed in front of a notary.
• A copy of your photo ID, such as a state ID.
• Proof of your right to the money, such as probate records (papers from the court case that settles an estate), your recorded deed, a lien or a mortgage. Attach a copy of the Notice of Surplus Funds too.
• The original, delivered in person or by mail to the Tax Deeds Department, Room 1054, 501 West Adams Street.

Questions go to Ask.Taxdeeds@DuvalClerk.com or (904) 255-1916¹⁴.

If no one files a claim within 120 days, Florida law presumes the owner of record is entitled. The Clerk then handles the money under the state's unclaimed property law¹³. You can search for it at claimyourcashfl.gov, where the state says "there is never a fee to search for or claim your property"¹⁵.

What if the house is still in a late parent's name?

Then the tax notices, the surplus and the title all point to someone who has died, and each step gets harder. Notices go to the owner of record at the addresses the Tax Collector has⁸. A surplus claim needs papers that prove your right to the money, such as probate records¹⁴.

The City of Jacksonville calls this heirs' property, or a "tangled title": the public records don't clearly show everyone who owns the home. It funds help through Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and LISC Jacksonville for residents who qualify¹⁷.

Apply on the City's heirs' property page, or call JALA at (904) 356-8371, ext. 401, or LISC at (904) 351-0008. Applying doesn't guarantee help¹⁷.

The Clerk's free Property Fraud Alert can watch the family name, too. It sends an email, text or call when a document with that name is recorded in Duval, and over 47,000 people and businesses have signed up¹⁸. Other Florida clerks run similar alerts, and our state-by-state map of county alerts compares them.

What have tax deed and fake deed cases in Duval looked like?

A Jacksonville tax deed reached the Florida Supreme Court over a returned letter, and fake deeds on an inherited building led to arrests in 2026. Fake deeds have been uncommon in Duval. In 2022, Property Appraiser Jerry Holland told News4JAX the county had seen very few property fraud cases¹⁹.

The lesson isn't that a sale is easy to undo. It took the state's highest court. Keep your mailing address current and open anything from the Clerk.

Florida gives owners a faster path in cases like this one. A quiet title suit is a court case that settles who owns a property. When the suit is over a fraudulent deed, the owner is entitled to a fast-track procedure, and the court must restore the owner's title²⁰.

Our guide to a quiet title action covers the steps and costs. Fake quitclaims are one form of deed theft, and if you find one on family property, start with the first steps after a fraudulent deed.

Frequently asked questions