Georgia estate administration
Small-estate limit: procedure-specific
This guide explains probate in Georgia: Georgia uses a Probate Court order declaring no administration necessary, not a value-capped small-estate affidavit.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
Georgia has no conventional dollar-threshold small-estate affidavit. An heir petitions the Probate Court for no administration necessary when the decedent died intestate, no administration exists, heirs agree on division, and the estate owes no debts or creditors consent/receive service and do not object. Real and personal property can be included; eligibility is structural, not monetary.
Petition for Order Declaring No Administration NecessarySimplified route
Georgia has no conventional dollar-threshold small-estate affidavit. An heir petitions the Probate Court for no administration necessary when the decedent died intestate, no administration exists, heirs agree on division, and the estate owes no debts or creditors consent/receive service and do not object. Real and personal property can be included; eligibility is structural, not monetary.
Eligibility and caveatsCourt cost
Effective January 1, 2025, a Title 53 estate petition costs $190 in total: a $175 base fee (2024 SB 232 §1, amending O.C.G.A. §15-9-60(e)) plus a mandatory $15 civil filing fee that SB 232 §3 directs the clerk to collect "[i]n addition to all other legal costs ... in each civil action filed in the probate court", charged once per decedent proceeding on the listed estate petitions. Service, publication and any other statutory charges are extra.
Filing-cost detailExecutor compensation
Absent controlling will/agreement terms, the statutory defaults are 2.5% of sums received and 2.5% of sums paid out, plus 10% of qualifying interest. Delivery of property in kind may receive reasonable compensation capped at 3% of appraised/fair value, and other statutory categories may apply. HB 327 (2025) updated subsection (a) agreement language without restating the subsection (b) percentages.
Compensation detailCreditor deadline
No creditor deadline is published here because the governing rule was not verified to this site’s primary-source standard.
Timeline and creditor detailsGeorgia decision map
Use this map before opening a form or entering a number. It keeps the Georgia amount test, time gate, court cost, and creditor record separate so one easy figure does not stand in for the whole administration.
| Question | Recorded Georgia answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; gross value for this route. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | No numeric ceiling verified | Establish unsecured debt before treating the screen as decided. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | No waiting-period number verified; No deadline is recorded here: Georgia has multiple non-equivalent events, so no single days value is honest. The representative must initiate publication within 60 days after qualification and publish weekly for four weeks. A creditor notifying more than three months after the last publication loses equal participation against earlier distributions and cannot hold the representative liable, but late claims may still be paid when sufficient assets remain and higher-priority claims are paid. The representative also receives a six-month administration/payment protection. No distinct actual-notice deadline or ultimate repose period was verified. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $190 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the Probate Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | Absent controlling will/agreement terms, the statutory defaults are 2.5% of sums received and 2.5% of sums paid out, plus 10% of qualifying interest. Delivery of property in kind may receive reasonable compensation capped at 3% of appraised/fair value, and other statutory categories may apply. HB 327 (2025) updated subsection (a) agreement language without restating the subsection (b) percentages. The relevant base is money received and paid out during administration. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
This registry does not establish a numeric Georgia ceiling from an accepted primary source. The safe next step is to follow the reason and source lane on this page, then ask the Probate Court for the current rule rather than importing a neighboring state\'s amount.
Next evidence to collect
Official material
Georgia publishes a statewide standard no-administration petition and an official Probate Court directory.
Source trail
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.
Includes GPCSF 9.
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Reviewed source note: 53-2-40. (a) When an individual has died intestate and there has been no administration in this state, any heir of the decedent may file a petition praying for an order that no administration is necessary. The petition shall be filed in the probate court of the county of the domicile of the Page 536 decedent, if the decedent was domiciled in this state, or in the county in which real property is located, if the decedent was not domiciled in this state.
Reviewed source note: SECTION 59.1405 Said title is further amended by revising subsections (b) and (d) of Code Section 53-7-41,1406 relating to notice for creditors to render accounts, notification of creditors' claims,1407 requirement of reasonable additional proof or accounting, and failure of creditors to give1408 notice of claims, as follows:
What this means: The signed act has no express effective-date clause in the harvested text. It amends the relevant current wording and is used with that limitation disclosed.
Reviewed source note: If the personal representative's compensation is not specified in the will or any separate written agreement, the personal representative for services rendered shall be entitled to compensation equal to: (1) Two and one-half percent commission on all sums of money received by the personal representative on account of the estate, except on money loaned by and repaid to the personal representative, and 2 1/2 percent commission on all sums paid out by the personal representative, either for debts, legacies, or distributive shares; (2) Ten percent commission on the amount of interest made
What this means: HB 327 (2025) revised subsection (a) agreement language but did not restate subsection (b), which contains these default percentages; the 2025 signed act is separately cited.
Reviewed source note: For each estate filing, as provided in33 Title 53, the filing fees shall be as follows:34 (1) Petition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 $175.00