Marshall County, IL tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Marshall County, seat of Lacon: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Illinois tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Marshall County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Marshall County Collector, the office of the Marshall County Treasurer acting as ex officio County Collector (Cynthia A. Nighsonger, Treasurer). Redemption of taxes sold is handled separately by the Marshall County Clerk and Recorder.
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Marshall County does not publish an annual tax sale date online. The Treasurer's page carries only one sale heading, "Sealed Bid Auction", and states: "The County holds a sealed bid auction sale for the County Trustee, for more information on this sale please look at their website: www.iltaxsale.com." That trustee sealed bid sale has fallen in early to late August in recent years. The ILTaxSale.com Marshall County page lists an upcoming auction dated "08/07/2026" and prior sales dated 08/08/2025, 08/02/2024, and 08/25/2023. Call the County Collector at 309-246-6085 to confirm the annual tax sale date, the registration deadline, and the publication date of the delinquent list.
Registration and deposit
Two separate paths. For the annual tax sale, register directly with the County Collector's office at the Marshall County Courthouse; no online registration portal is published, and Illinois requires bidders to attend in person (35 ILCS 200/21-205 as quoted by RAMS Auctions: "All bidders are required to personally attend the sale"). For the trustee sealed bid sale on ILTaxSale.com, the Marshall County terms state: "You must either submit a bid online or deliver a completed 'BINDING PURCHASE CONTRACT / SEALED BID' along with payment in full to the Treasurer's office no later than the 'last day to bid' date in order to participate." Online bidders create an account at ILTaxSaleBids.com; sealed written bidders obtain the catalog and bid form from the Treasurer's office. Full payment accompanies every sealed written bid, by personal check, cashier's check, money order, or bank draft, and is returned if you are outbid. There is no verbal bidding at the Marshall County trustee sale. Catalogs are released roughly 30 days before the sale; Marshall County's digital catalog is $5 and its list of assignable certificates is $25.
Read the two sales as distinct. The annual tax sale, where investors bid the penalty rate on delinquent taxes and receive a certificate of purchase, is run by the County Collector at the courthouse in Lacon and is not advertised on the county website; the county site search returns only the Treasurer and County Clerk pages for "tax sale", and no delinquent list or bidder registration packet is posted. The sale reachable online is the County Trustee's sealed bid auction, run by Joseph E. Meyer and Associates, which sells parcels the county already took to tax deed plus lists of assignable certificates left over from prior tax sales. The trustee page for Marshall County gives the sale location as "Cynthia Nighsonger, Treasurer, Marshall County Courthouse, 122 N. Prairie Street, P.O. Box 328, Lacon, IL 61540, Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.", type "Real Estate - Sealed Bid", minimum bid $836.00, with item 0826001B removed from the current sale. Joseph E. Meyer and Associates describes itself as "the Delinquent Tax Agent for 94 of 102 counties in Illinois". Marshall County also appears on the RAMS Auctions client county list; RAMS and RAMS 2 are the same firm's automated tax sale systems, in which registered buyers attend the sale and submit percentage bids on the county's laptops or on a USB drive, and each parcel is awarded to the lowest rate bid with ties broken at random. That client list is undated, so confirm the current bidding mechanism with the Collector. Investors should also note that several parcels in the August 2026 trustee catalog sit in the Lake Wildwood development and carry recorded restrictive covenants, association dues, a right of first refusal held by adjacent owners and the association, and a membership approval requirement.
Register on Online auctionTax deed sale
- Run by
- Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions.
- Frequency
- as ordered by the circuit court
- Typical timing
- Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. Public Act 104-0553 created this route for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026, so the earliest Illinois judicial tax deed auctions fall in 2027, after the 1 year short redemption track runs.
Registration and deposit
Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.
Bidding opens at the tax deed judgment amount plus 0.75 percent per month since judgment, plus publication and selling officer costs. The petitioning certificate holder is entered as a credit bidder at that minimum. Surplus above the minimum goes to the county treasurer for the former owner to claim.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
Certificates nobody bids on at the annual sale are forfeited to the county as trustee for the taxing districts. The county may then assign a forfeited certificate to any party or sell property it has acquired, which many counties handle through a delinquent tax agent rather than a public counter. Counties may also offer county-held certificates at a scavenger sale with a minimum bid of $250, or half the tax when total liability is under $500. Ask the county collector and the county clerk which program the county runs and who may buy.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Marshall County
- Redemption is not handled by the Treasurer. The County Clerk and Recorder page states: "Delinquent taxes sold in Marshall County tax sales must be redeemed in the Office of the County Clerk in person or by mail. It is necessary to call our office to be assured of the exact amount of payment. Payment must be made in cash, certified check or money order made out to the Marshall County Clerk." County Clerk and Recorder Jill M. Kenyon, 122 North Prairie St., P.O. Box 328, Lacon, Illinois 61540, phone 309-246-6325, open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Pre-sale delinquency costs come from the Treasurer's page: "interest will be added at the rate of 1 1/2% per month for all real estate property effective on the first day following each due date until tax is sold or forfeited. Parts or fractions of a month shall be considered as a month." It also states "Advertising costs will be added to each delinquent bill."
- The County Collector's counter is at the Marshall County Courthouse, 122 North Prairie Street, Lacon, open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed holidays. Payments are made payable to Marshall County Collector.
- Caution on the trustee page's county link: ILTaxSale.com points to marshallcountyillinois.com, while the county's live official site is marshallcountyillinois.gov. Use the .gov address.
- The RAMS Auctions statewide schedule page was reachable but listed no active sale dates when checked on 2026-07-30, and it warns that "this schedule is subject to change, please contact the respective County Treasurer's Office to confirm the date and time of any tax sales you might wish to attend". Treat the Collector's office as the only reliable source for the Marshall County annual sale date.
- No county-published delinquent tax list, bidder registration form, deposit amount, or sale rules document was found on marshallcountyillinois.gov. The document search on the county site returns zero results for "tax sale".
Illinois statewide rules
- Redemption
- Property sold at an Illinois tax sale may be redeemed at any time before the redemption period expires. Public Act 104-0553 set the standard period at 3 years from the date of sale for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026. Certificates issued between January 1, 2024 and July 9, 2026 run on the earlier 2.5 year (30 month) track, and on that track the certificate holder could file a written notice with the county clerk extending redemption to a date no later than 3 years from the sale. A short 1 year period applies when the parcel was, on the date of sale, vacant non-farm property, commercial or industrial property, or improved with a structure holding 7 or more residential units. Certificates the county holds or assigns as trustee run on their own schedule under Section 21-385, and an assignee must file notice within 60 days of assignment setting a redemption deadline no later than 3 years from the assignment.
- Deed deposit
- Illinois does not fix a statutory deposit percentage. Deposit and payment terms are set in the court's order authorizing the auction and by the selling officer, so read the notice of tax deed auction for each sale. A purchaser who fails to complete the sale forfeits any deposit already made to the county surplus equity fund, and the court orders a new auction of the property.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any amount by which the winning bid exceeds the minimum bid is surplus. Within 30 days after the court confirms the sale the selling officer deposits the surplus with the county treasurer, who notifies everyone who received the Section 22-10 take notice that the owner at the time of the sale may file a claim for it. A county running its own tax deed auction deposits surplus with the treasurer within 30 days of the sale and notifies interested parties within 60 days. Separately, a previous owner who lost equity through a tax deed can claim an award from the county surplus equity fund, capped at the value of the property when the deed issued less mortgages, liens, and the taxes the purchaser paid.
A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Marshall County, Illinois sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Marshall County follows Illinois's tax lien state system.
When is the Marshall County tax certificate sale?
- Marshall County does not publish an annual tax sale date online. The Treasurer's page carries only one sale heading, "Sealed Bid Auction", and states: "The County holds a sealed bid auction sale for the County Trustee, for more information on this sale please look at their website: www.iltaxsale.com." That trustee sealed bid sale has fallen in early to late August in recent years. The ILTaxSale.com Marshall County page lists an upcoming auction dated "08/07/2026" and prior sales dated 08/08/2025, 08/02/2024, and 08/25/2023. Call the County Collector at 309-246-6085 to confirm the annual tax sale date, the registration deadline, and the publication date of the delinquent list.. Registration and bidding happen on the county's online platform. Always confirm the exact date with the Tax Collector before the sale.
How often does Marshall County hold tax deed sales?
- as ordered by the circuit court. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.
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