Georgia estate administration

Georgia probate: rules, process, costs, executor fees and deadlines

Small-estate limit: procedure-specific

In Georgia, executors take 2.5% of money received plus 2.5% of money paid out (Ga. L. 1996, Act No. 754; O.C.G.A. § 53-6-60(b)). Georgia uses a Probate Court order declaring no administration necessary, not a value-capped small-estate affidavit.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources rechecked October 3, 2026. This page last revised October 28, 2026.

Answer first

Georgia simplified probate route

No single dollar limit; waiting period not verified.

Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary

No combined Georgia probate total

The Probate Court filing charge is statewide: $190 (2024 SB 232, §§1, 3, 6; O.C.G.A. §§15-9-60(e), 15-21A-6(b)). The commission rates (Ga. L. 1996, Act No. 754; O.C.G.A. § 53-6-60(b)) run on the money the estate takes in and pays out. Each side in full: Georgia probate filing cost and Georgia executor fees.

Screen a specific Georgia estate with the calculators on the small-estate page and the executor-fee page, or compare states in the full estate navigator.

What the reviewed rules establish

Simplified route

procedure-specific

Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary; waiting period not verified.

Eligibility and caveats

Court cost

$190

1 published schedule, itemised on the filing-cost page.

Filing-cost detail

Executor compensation

Statutory schedule

A statutory percentage schedule applies. Source: Ga. L. 1996, Act No. 754; O.C.G.A. § 53-6-60(b).

Compensation detail

Creditor deadline

Not published

Timeline and creditor details

Georgia decision map

The four facts that change the Georgia route

Each Georgia answer below links to the page that sets out its source.

Georgia estate administration decision map
Question	Recorded Georgia answer
What route is being screened?	Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary
What property and basis count?	probate property within the rule's stated scope; gross value for this route.
What is the amount screen?	No numeric ceiling verified
What is the time or deadline record?	No waiting-period number verified; creditor deadlines: not published here
What does the cost record establish?	$190 is the recorded statewide amount.
What does compensation use?	Statutory percentage schedule, measured on money received and paid out during administration.

Limits and unresolved costs

Georgia's no-administration-necessary procedure has no dollar limit: whether an estate qualifies depends on the conditions described above, not on its value.
Georgia's procedure has no waiting period that applies to every estate.
The Georgia sections cited here give no separate deadline for creditors who receive actual notice and no final time limit after which every claim is barred.
HB 327 (2025), cited here, contains no clause stating when it takes effect.
The $190 opening cost is the $175 base petition fee plus the $15 civil filing fee that SB 232 § 3 adds to each civil action filed in the probate court. Service and publication cost extra.

Continue

What Georgia courts publish

Each link goes to the court’s own page and is checked before every release.

Forms indexGeorgia Probate Court standard formsCouncil of Probate Court Judges of Georgia
Includes GPCSF 9.
Official formGPCSF 9, Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary (PDF)Administrative Office of the Courts of Georgia
Court resourceGeorgia Probate Courts DirectoryCouncil of Probate Court Judges of Georgia

Limits on court material

Georgia publishes a statewide standard no-administration petition and an official Probate Court directory.

Georgia primary sources

Each rule on the Georgia pages comes from one of these 4 sources; the citation opens the publisher’s own text. All were last rechecked October 3, 2026.

Simplified-procedure rule
Ga. L. 1996, Act No. 754; O.C.G.A. §§ 53-2-40 to 53-2-42, Georgia Laws 1996, Act No. 754 (HB 1030).
Georgia General Assembly (Digital Library of Georgia official legislative collection) · This Act shall become effective on January 1, 1998.
Simplified-procedure rule
2025 HB 327, §§48, 55, 59, HB 327 (2025), as passed House and Senate.
Georgia Governor
Executor compensation rule
Ga. L. 1996, Act No. 754; O.C.G.A. § 53-6-60(b), Georgia Laws 1996, Act No. 754 (HB 1030).
- These defaults apply only when neither the will nor a separate written agreement sets the personal representative’s pay.
- 2.5% of the money the representative receives for the estate, leaving out money the representative lent and was repaid, plus 2.5% of the money paid out for debts, legacies or shares of the estate.
- 10% of interest the representative collects during the administration on money lent by the decedent, or by the representative in that role, when it is entered in the return to the probate court as part of the estate.
- For handing property over in kind, an amount the probate court finds reasonable, never more than 3% of its appraised value (or of the fair value the judge finds where there was no appraisal).
- For working land for the people interested in the estate, what the probate court allows, never more than 10% of that property’s yearly income.
Georgia General Assembly (Digital Library of Georgia official legislative collection) · This Act shall become effective on January 1, 1998.
Court cost rule
2024 SB 232, §§1, 3, 6; O.C.G.A. §§15-9-60(e), 15-21A-6(b), SB 232 (2024), as passed.
Georgia Governor · This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2025, and shall apply to fees paid in a probate181 court on and after such date.

Sources rechecked October 3, 2026: Georgia source list · how sources are checked · report a correction