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Mississippi County
Tate County, Mississippi
Arkabutla Lake and Tate County's Memphis exurb growth - from Arkabutla Lake (the 33,000-acre reservoir on the Coldwater River in Tate County - one of the four Yazoo Basin flood control reservoirs - providing bass and crappie fishing, camping, and water recreation within 45 minutes of downtown Memphis) to Tate County's position as a rapidly growing Memphis exurb (the I-55 corridor has driven significant residential development in Senatobia and Coldwater as Memphis-area workers seek Mississippi's lower cost of living and no income tax environment).
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Office: Tate County Emergency Management Agency – 107 Court Street, Senatobia, MS 38668; text “TateCounty” to 24639 for CodeRED weather/road-closure alerts.
Tate County E-911 – a joint venture between Tate County and the City of Senatobia, staffed 24/7 by ten dispatchers handling police, fire, and EMS calls countywide.
Roads: I-55 and MS-4 serve Senatobia, the county seat, about 30 minutes south of Memphis, TN, and the 16th-largest municipality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area.
Notes: Tate County was organized in 1873 from parts of Tunica, DeSoto, and Marshall Counties, named for Col. T.S. Tate. Roughly 28,060-28,725 residents across 405-411 square miles, in northwestern Mississippi. Senatobia was founded on land purchased from the Chickasaw Nation in 1834 by early settler James Peters, at $1.25 per acre. Arkabutla Lake, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1942 to control Delta-region flooding, now provides significant recreational opportunities.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Tate County Courthouse – Senatobia, MS 38668.
Notes: Tate County is genuinely the birthplace of legendary actor James Earl Jones, born in Arkabutla in 1931 (he lived there until age five before his family moved to Michigan). Senatobia is home to Northwest Mississippi Community College, founded in 1915 as Tate County Agricultural High School and beginning college-level instruction in 1926 – now serving an 11-county district with roughly 7,800-8,250 students and campuses extending to Southaven and Oxford. The Baddour Center, a residential care facility for intellectually disabled adults, is also located in Senatobia.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Tate County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via tatecountyms.gov.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Memphis, TN VA medical center; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Senatobia Public Library / First Regional Library System – confirm current address/phone via tatecountyms.gov or cityofsenatobiams.gov.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Arkabutla Lake and the Northwest Mississippi Community College campus (with the Heindl Center for Performing Arts) are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine James Earl Jones birthplace connection is one of the most notable entertainment-history facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Tate County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via tatecountyms.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Senatobia/Tate County Animal Shelter – confirm current address/phone via cityofsenatobiams.gov or tatecountyms.gov; operates under the city’s Animal Control Ordinance.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Tate County – confirm current contact via tatecountyms.gov.
NOTES: Tate County is the sixth county in the tenth batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine James Earl Jones birthplace connection is one of the most notable entertainment-history facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Tate County
Tate County is north Mississippi’s Arkabutla Lake and Memphis exurb county – the 33,000-acre reservoir provides Memphis metro recreation, and the I-55 corridor drives residential growth from workers seeking Mississippi’s no-income-tax environment.
Senatobia (the county seat, population ~8,000) serves the county’s growing residential population – Northwest Mississippi Community College and regional services anchor the community.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Tate County Tax Assessor at 201 Ward Street, Senatobia, MS 38668, phone 662-562-6011. MS residential assessed at 10% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Tate County Chancery Court at 201 Ward Street, Senatobia, MS 38668, phone 662-562-5661, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
201 S. Ward St., Senatobia, MS 38668
(662) 562-5661
CIRCUIT CLERK
201 S. Ward St., Senatobia, MS 38668
(662) 562-5661
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Tate County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The 1875 Tate County Courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a Mississippi Landmark, now operates as the Tate County Heritage Museum – a strong local research resource.
Local societies
No dedicated Tate County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories, though the Tate County Heritage Museum housed in the historic courthouse supports local history research.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Tate County Chancery Court 201 South Ward Street, Senatobia, MS 38668 (662) 562-5661
Tate County was founded 1873 during Reconstruction, formed from portions of DeSoto, Marshall, and Tunica counties, in northwestern Mississippi, seated in Senatobia. The 1875 Tate County Courthouse, Romanesque in style, is NRHP-listed and a Mississippi Landmark, now home to the Tate County Heritage Museum.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Mississippi has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code and instead follows its own statutory framework under Miss. Code Ann. Title 91, Chapter 7. Mississippi’s small-estate threshold, at $75,000, is one of the lowest in the country, so most estates end up needing at least some court involvement.
Small Estate Affidavit (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-322) – personal property only, up to $75,000 (excluding liens and encumbrances). A 30-day waiting period after death applies. The affidavit is presented directly to whoever holds the property (a bank, for instance); that party is not required to investigate the truth of the affidavit and is protected from liability once it complies.
Muniment of Title (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-5-35) – a limited proceeding to transfer real property named in a will, without full administration, when the estate’s non-real-estate assets are $75,000 or less and all debts (including taxes) have been paid. A petition is still filed with the Chancery Court to declare the will valid; the will and court order are then recorded in the land records.
Formal Administration – required for most estates with real property beyond the muniment-of-title threshold or significant liquid assets. The Chancery Judge reviews the petition, the will (if any), and supporting documents before issuing Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration appointing the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for probate
File a petition with the Chancery Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
The personal representative inventories assets and notifies creditors; Mississippi’s creditor claim period runs 90 days (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-145).
Claims and disputes are adjudicated by the Chancery Court if contested.
Once debts are settled and the creditor period closes, the estate can be distributed and closed.
What it costs
Costs are the Chancery Clerk’s per-county filing fee (built on the statewide base under Miss. Code § 25-7-9), plus recording fees and publication costs.
Mississippi has no state estate tax or inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could separately apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
201 S. Ward St., Senatobia, MS 38668
(662) 562-4471
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
201 S. Ward St., Senatobia, MS 38668
(662) 562-5661
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MS Dept of Health — North Mississippi
(662) 562-4271
Baptist Memorial Hospital — Tate County
baptistonline.org (Senatobia — quality community hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Tate County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via tatecountyms.gov.
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