Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
Guides › Transfer-on-Death Deeds
Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: yes — and it is new. Georgia’s transfer-on-death deed law (O.C.G.A. Title 44, Ch. 17) took effect July 1, 2024, which is why most national lists still wrongly count Georgia as a no. Before that, Georgia practitioners used Lady Bird deeds as the workaround; the statutory deed now exists alongside that history.
What the new law provides — and one honesty note
The owner keeps full legal and equitable ownership until death (§44-17-7); the beneficiary needs to sign nothing and know nothing while you live; recording before death is required. One caution we will not paper over: the legislature amended the chapter again in April 2026 (HB 413), and we have not yet verified the amendment’s text against a primary source — so treat any article’s claims about post-2026 details (witness counts, form changes) as unconfirmed until you or your attorney reads the current statute. A brand-new statute being refined is normal; relying on secondhand summaries of it is how mistakes happen.
What it saves: Georgia probate cost. How it compares to the trust route: deed vs living trust. Every state: the verified table.
Georgia now has one
Georgia’s transfer on death deed is recent enough that several national lists have not caught up, but it is real and available on the terms set out above. LawDepot builds one; recording it with the county is what makes it effective.
Create a transfer on death deed
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
A deed moves the house; the will still has to move everything else, and its price is less Georgia-specific than it looks: what a will costs in Georgia says why no reliable Georgia median exists, gives the national figures it is actually relying on, and covers the execution rules that decide whether the will works.