In Georgia, unlike in many other states, probate is not “bad.” Probate in Georgia is relatively easy. But despite the relative simplicity of probate in Georgia, you might desire to avoid probate for many reasons.



Probate is the legal process of administering a recently deceased person’s estate. During probate, the probate court oversees the collection of assets, payment of taxes and debt, and the distribution of the deceased person’s assets according to a will or state intestacy law if there is no will. The probate process can be time-consuming and costly, not to mention overwhelming to family members who have to deal with the grief of losing a loved one.

Avoiding probate can be done by utilizing estate planning tools such as trusts and deeds. With the help of an experienced Atlanta probate attorney, you and your loved ones may be able to avoid the complexities involved in the probate process. At Trace Brooks Law, skilled Atlanta estate planning attorney Trace Brooks can help you understand your options in avoiding probate and assist you in navigating the legal processes involved. Contact us today at (404) 492-9559 to schedule a consultation.

Options to Avoid Probate in Georgia

The reason why most estates necessitate probate is the fact that most individuals have not prepared proactively to avoid probate. To avoid probate in Georgia, you must ensure that no assets pass to your probate estate at your death. To accomplish this, you should consider a comprehensive estate plan utilizing a revocable living trust and pour-over will. Further, your assets must be properly titled and your beneficiaries properly designated.

Your assets will not be part of your probate estate if they pass elsewhere via a beneficiary designation, they pass to the surviving joint owner of an asset owned as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, or they were already owned in trust at your death.

To use a revocable living trust to avoid probate, you must fully fund the trust before your death. In other words, you must transfer almost all your assets to your revocable living trust during your lifetime (as the trustee of your trust, you would retain full control over the assets). You should not, however, transfer assets you prefer to own in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship (such as a joint checking account) and tax-deferred accounts (such as IRAs, Qualified Retirement Accounts, and annuities) to your revocable living trust. Transferring tax-deferred accounts during your life to a trust is typically a taxable event, resulting in taxable income in the year of transfer. To avoid probate with tax-deferred accounts, ensure proper beneficiary designations are in place.

Living Trusts

Living trusts can allow you to transfer assets into the trust and remove them from your ownership. By putting assets into a living trust, you transfer ownership of the property to the trust. When the primary trustor passes away, the successor trustee takes over the management of the trust and oversees the transfer of the trust’s assets as indicated in the trust agreement.

It is important to remember that only assets included in the trust would be excluded from probate. Any assets the trustor had that were not transferred into the trust before they passed away would still be subject to probate, to be distributed according to their will or subject to intestacy law.

Joint Tenancy

Owning a property with someone else can allow them to get the ownership of property once their co-owner passes away. This is called the “Right of Survivorship”. Under a Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship (JTROS), the surviving owner automatically gets their co–owner’s share of ownership in the property. While this method would avoid probate, it will still be necessary for the surviving owner to provide certification that they now hold the property on their own.

In Georgia, joint tenants can legally own real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, and other assets of value. Joint tenancy can work regardless of whether the owners are married or unmarried as long as they own an equal share of the property.

Business Succession Planning

For business co-owners, it may also be beneficial to iron out the details of succession in the case of unexpected circumstances such as incapacity or death of one or more of the co-owners. When a person dies without a business succession plan in place, their share of ownership in the business is either passed on to relatives as part of their estate, taken up by other shareholders, or both.

Business assets go through probate in Georgia. Creating a business succession plan can be a helpful way to avoid possible conflict between relatives or shareholders by proactively planning out what happens to your ownership interests.

Payable-on-Death and Transfer-on-Death Designations

A Payable-on-Death designation allows an individual to assign a POD beneficiary rights to their account once they pass away. The person who created the account can still access and manage the account as they wish and the POD beneficiary will only get the rights to access the account once the primary owner passes away. When the primary owner dies, the beneficiary can file a claim directly with the bank without the need for probate.

For brokerage accounts, a person can register their stocks and bonds with a Transfer-on-Death form that allows them to name a beneficiary who will inherit the account upon their death. Like with payable-on-death designations, the beneficiary can deal directly with the brokerage company to transfer the account to their name.

Georgia only authorizes transfer-on-death designations for brokerage accounts and not for real property or vehicles. To be able to transfer real property and vehicles without the need for probate, other methods in this list may be more applicable.

Simplified Probate

Smaller estates or estates that don’t have complicated assets can avoid probate through the state’s simplified probate process. This involves filing a petition called the Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary. For the petition to be approved the following requirements must be met: