Georgia Probate Cost 2026: Fees, Filing Fee, and the Small-Estate Route

Updated August 19, 2026. Quick answer: Georgia fixes one half of the bill by statute and leaves the other to the court: the personal representative’s default statutory commission is 2.5% of all sums of money received plus 2.5% of all sums paid out (O.C.G.A. §53-6-60) absent a will or agreement, while attorney fees are reasonable with no schedule. Georgia publishes no general small-estate affidavit and no dollar threshold at all; the alternatives are a ‘no administration necessary’ order for intestate estates with no debts, and direct release of up to $15,000 in deposits (O.C.G.A. §7-1-239). Whether any of that reaches a solely owned house is answered below — it is where most published guidance goes wrong.

How much does probate cost in Georgia?

Why Georgia has no single answer

Georgia does not publish a percentage schedule that produces one number, so any source quoting you a firm figure is estimating. What the statute actually fixes is the standard: PR: default statutory commission absent will/agreement (O.C.G.A. §53-6-60) — 2.5% of all sums of money received + 2.5% of all sums paid out, plus 10% commission on interest earned on loans made by the PR; separate provisions for in-kind property. Attorney fees: reasonable (no schedule). That makes three things decide the bill — how many billable hours the administration takes, whether any beneficiary contests, and whether the estate qualifies for the small-estate route below and skips most of it. Get the fee basis in writing before engaging anyone.

For states that DO publish a schedule, and to compare, use the probate cost calculator.

What is the small estate limit in Georgia?

No general small-estate affidavit or dollar threshold. Alternatives: ‘no administration necessary’ order for intestate estates with no debts and unanimous heir agreement (no dollar cap); financial institutions may release up to $15,000 in deposits directly to family for intestate decedents (O.C.G.A. §7-1-239); vehicle title transfer by affidavit via DOR.

Georgia does answer this, and there is no dollar cap. Under OCGA §53-2-40(d), where a no-administration order involves an interest in real property, the court must file a certified copy of the order within 30 days in each Georgia county where the deceased owned real property, to be recorded in the deed records. What limits the route is not value but eligibility: intestate estates only, no unpaid debts (or creditors consenting or served), and a division agreed by all heirs.

Full thresholds for every state: small-estate limits by state.

If the estate is still being planned rather than settled, the usual way to keep a house out of probate entirely is a living trust, which carries its own upfront cost: whether a living trust is worth it in Georgia.

Does a house have to go through probate in Georgia?

Not necessarily, and Georgia is unusual in that the escape route has no dollar ceiling. OCGA §53-2-40 lets any heir petition for an order that no administration is necessary, and subsection (d) requires the court to record a certified copy in the deed records of every county where the deceased owned real property. The catch is eligibility rather than size — the estate must be intestate, free of unpaid debts, and the heirs must agree on the division. Where any of those fail, the house goes the long way, and the time to sort that out is while the owner is alive and has options. A fiduciary advisor can price the exposure alongside the rest of the estate picture. talk to someone about the whole estate picture. You can also run the numbers yourself first with the probate cost calculator — no email required.

How Georgia compares to the other 50

Georgia states no small-estate dollar figure at all, so it is not in that ranking: 49 of 51 jurisdictions publish one and Georgia and New Hampshire do not. Among the 49 that do, the range runs from $15,000 at the bottom to $400,000 at the top around a national median of $75,000. Georgia sits outside that comparison on purpose — here the question is not how large the estate is, but whether the conditions above are met. On fee model, Georgia is one of 14 of 51 jurisdictions using the hybrid approach.

Death taxes in Georgia, separately

Georgia levies neither an estate tax nor an inheritance tax, which is true of 34 jurisdictions. That is a different question from probate cost and is decided by different statutes, but families routinely conflate the two.

What this does not include

The figures above are the probate cost — the court and compensation side of settling an estate. They are separate from any state estate tax or inheritance tax, which are taxes on the transfer itself and are owed whether or not the estate goes through probate. Appraisal, bond premium, publication, and real-estate commissions if property is sold are additional and are not set by the fee statute.

Before you hire anyone

• Ask which statute the fee is charged under, and get the citation. In Georgia the governing provisions are below.
• Ask whether the quoted fee is calculated on gross value or net of debts. Gross-value states charge on the full house value even if a mortgage covers most of it.
• Ask whether the personal representative is also claiming compensation, and on what basis.
• Ask in writing whether the estate qualifies for the small-estate route, and if a solely owned house is involved, whether that route reaches it.

Primary sources

• O.C.G.A. §53-6-60
• O.C.G.A. §7-1-239
• O.C.G.A. §15-9-60

Georgia in the rest of the picture

Probate cost is one of four things Georgia decides for a retiree and their heirs. The other three — income tax on withdrawals, estate tax, and inheritance tax — are priced separately:

• Every tax Georgia charges a retiree: Georgia retirement taxes
• What arriving here is worth: retiring to Georgia
• Corridor comparison: Connecticut To Georgia
• Corridor comparison: Illinois To Georgia
• Corridor comparison: Michigan To Georgia
• Corridor comparison: New Jersey To Georgia

Compare and calculate

Probate cost by state compares all 51 jurisdictions side by side. The probate cost calculator prices a specific estate. If a move is on the table, retirement tax relocation prices probate alongside the three other taxes that change with residency.

Cite or share this guide: “Georgia Probate Cost (2026),” statute-cited; clearmoneyguide.com/georgia-probate-cost/. Free to cite with attribution.