GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Alachua County residents have $261 million of property value at risk of entering a costly and lengthy probate legal process.

The Alachua County Property Appraiser’s Office is proud to host its first Probate and Estate Planning Summit on February 24, 2022, at 6 p.m. located at Mount Carmel Baptist Church T.A. Wright Family Life Center at 2505 NE Eighth Ave.

Our goal is to bring community awareness to the probate process while introducing programs and financial resources that are currently available to help heirs who have to go through the costly legal process of resolving title issues.

This inaugural event will feature an interactive panel discussion led by representatives from the City of Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area, the City of Gainesville Commissioner Harvey Ward, the Alachua County Clerk of Court, the Alachua County Tax Collector, Alachua County Commissioner Anna Prizzia, and Three Rivers Legal Services Inc. Each panelist will discuss how their respective offices are directly impacted by the extensive probate process and how many individuals can opt to create estate plans that are aimed at allowing assets to pass outside of the probate process.

“This will be the first time all of our local government offices will work together in figuring out a way to help these families,” Property Appraiser, Ayesha Solomon said. “Our hope is that this summit will allow us to continue partnering with trusted community-based organizations in order to alleviate the financial burden of the probate process while educating our community on the importance of estate planning.”

The Alachua County Property Appraiser’s Office formulated this initiative through a dual data-driven approach that identified all the parcels that are classified as heirs’ property throughout the county as well as parcels with only one remaining owner listed on the property suggesting a lack of proper estate planning. After successfully analyzing both data sets, two heat maps were created to showcase the “hot spot” areas in the county that are affected the most by these issues.

“To hear that in our geographic location, there is a significant number of properties that have been impacted by probate or estate planning issues, and then to learn that number is over 300 properties just in our vicinity, it is great to hear that someone is working to improve the transfer of property and assets that will work to increase creating generational wealth,” Senior Pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, Destin Williams said.

The Alachua County Property Appraiser’s Office will be practicing social distancing measures to minimize the risk of COVID-19 to guests.

About the Alachua County Property Appraiser’s Office
The Alachua County Property Appraiser’s Office ensures that all taxable property in the county is assessed equitably and at its fair market value in accordance with Florida statutes. The Property Appraiser’s Office has two locations: 515 N. Main Street in Gainesville and 15010 NW 142nd Terrace in Alachua. For more information visit https://www.acpafl.org.

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