How to Find Probate Records in Georgia by County

Georgia has 159 counties and a separate probate court in every one of them. There is no statewide probate database, no single search box, and no shared filing system. Finding an estate filing means knowing which of the 159 courts holds it and which of three unrelated vendor platforms, if any, puts it online.

That fragmentation is why most agents stop at one county. It is also why the ones who work the system properly find estate property before it reaches the MLS.

# Are Georgia probate records public?

Yes. Every probate filing in Georgia is a public record held by the county probate court, and anyone can inspect it. There is no requirement to be an heir, an attorney, or a party to the case.

What is public includes the decedent's name and date of death, the petition to probate the will or to appoint an administrator, the letters testamentary or letters of administration naming the personal representative, the estate inventory, and the full docket history.

Two practical limits are worth knowing before you plan around online access. Public does not mean digitized: several Georgia counties, including two of the largest, hold probate records that can only be read at the courthouse. And public does not mean free: certified copies and clerk record searches carry statutory fees, set out below.

# Where are probate records filed in Georgia?

In the county where the deceased was legally domiciled at death, not where they died and not where the property sits.

Georgia's probate courts are constitutional courts. Article VI, Section I, Paragraph VI of the Georgia Constitution requires one in every county, which is why there are 159 of them, each with its own judge, clerk, docket and records practice. Estate administration runs under Title 53 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, with will probate in Chapter 5 and administration in Chapter 7.

O.C.G.A. § 53-5-1(b) fixes venue at the county of domicile. Someone who lived in Gwinnett County and died in a Fulton County hospital has their estate filed in Gwinnett. The statute also addresses the nursing-home case, where a move late in life does not automatically change domicile.

The exception is ancillary administration. Under O.C.G.A. § 15-9-31, a probate judge has jurisdiction over the estate of a non-resident who owned property in that county. An out-of-state owner with a Georgia rental is administered where the rental is.

Testate and intestate filings read differently

Testate, meaning the decedent left a will, produces a petition to probate, a named executor, and letters testamentary. The direction of the estate is usually settled from the start.

Intestate, meaning no valid will, produces a petition for letters of administration and a court-appointed administrator. Georgia's intestacy rules decide who inherits. These are frequently the more productive filings, because several heirs who never planned for the situation now jointly own a house none of them lives in.

# How do you look up probate records in Georgia?

County by county, using whichever system that court happens to use. Georgia runs no unified portal, and three separate vendors serve different courts: re:SearchGA from Tyler Technologies, PeachCourt, and GeorgiaProbateRecords.com from i3 Verticals. They are not one network, they do not share data, and a county on one is usually absent from the others.

One warning that catches people out. The state's e-Access to Court Records page looks like the answer, and for most metro counties it lists only State Court and Superior Court. Probate courts are largely not on it. Searching there for an estate returns nothing, and the absence of a result means nothing about whether the estate exists.

The seven counties below are the ones ProbateData covers.

Fulton County

Georgia's most populous county, and the state's highest-volume probate market.

Despite its size, Fulton is one of the harder counties in this group for remote research. Requests go through the Records Division by mail or in person, with a fee schedule and money-order payment. Budget for a courthouse trip or a records request rather than assuming a portal.

Gwinnett County

Second most populous, suburban Atlanta, a large and ageing homeowner base.

Gwinnett uses both systems rather than one. Estate cases are searchable on the Odyssey portal; document images come from re:SearchGA. This is the strongest remote-research county of the seven.

Cobb County

Northwest metro, dense established single-family stock, strong estate property values.

Cobb runs its own records system independent of the statewide vendors, it is open without registration, and the court publishes its fees. For a county this size that combination is unusual and worth using.

DeKalb County

East of Fulton, a mix of urban infill and established suburbs, high filing volume.

DeKalb offers no public online estate search. The county's Tyler portal covers Superior, State and Magistrate courts only. Probate records are read at the court by appointment or requested directly, which makes DeKalb the most labour-intensive county of the seven despite its volume.

Cherokee County

North of Cobb, rapid residential growth over the past decade, a smaller but rising caseload.

Cherokee's own database searches by case number, by decedent name, by filing-date range and by date-of-death range. The date-of-death filter is the most useful field any of these seven portals offers, because it lets you work a cohort rather than a name.

Coweta County

Southwest of Atlanta, growing with the wider metro footprint, lower competition.

Fayette County

Directly south of Fulton, higher-income residential communities, higher-value estates.

Which Georgia counties have online probate search

Cobb, Gwinnett and Cherokee are the three you can genuinely work from a desk. Coweta and Fayette depend on a third-party platform that may require registration or fees. Fulton and DeKalb, the two largest markets on this list after Gwinnett, are courthouse work.

# What does it cost to pull Georgia probate records?

O.C.G.A. § 15-9-60 sets the statutory fees directly:

• Certified copy of letters of appointment: $10.00
• Other certified documents: $10.00 plus $1.00 per page
• Plain copies: $1.00 per page
• Clerk examination of records, per estate or name searched: $10.00

Counties add local charges on top. Fulton, for example, charges $15.00 plus $1.00 per page for exemplified copies and adds a recording fee on most filings. Confirm with the court before ordering a batch.

The practical implication is that the $10.00 name-search fee makes speculative searching expensive. Identify the estate through a free portal or an assessor cross-reference first, then order documents on the cases that matter.

# How long does probate take in Georgia?

Most estates run 6 to 18 months from filing to distribution. Contested estates run considerably longer. Georgia sets no deadline for completing an administration, but it does impose fixed interim deadlines, which is what keeps generating public filings even on estates that stall.

The creditor notice runs once a week for four weeks in the county's official newspaper, and the three-month claim window runs from the last of those publications. No estate closes quickly, which means the research window is generous.

The most productive outreach point is 60 to 90 days after filing. Earlier than that the personal representative is still dealing with qualification and creditor notice. Much later and the property may already be listed.

Common Form and Solemn Form

Georgia probates wills two ways, and the difference decides how settled the title is.

Common Form is faster and requires no notice to heirs. Under O.C.G.A. § 53-5-19 it becomes conclusive four years after the order admitting the will. Minor heirs are the exception, and may challenge within four years of reaching majority, which is the scenario that produces a title problem on a probate sale years after the fact.

Solemn Form requires notice to all heirs. Under O.C.G.A. § 53-5-20 it is conclusive against everyone properly served, and conclusive against all persons regardless of service six months after the order is entered. Heirs entitled to notice who were never effectively served keep the same four-year window as Common Form until that six months runs.

An executor planning to sell will usually choose Solemn Form, because a buyer's title insurer prefers it. Seeing Solemn Form on a docket is a reasonable signal that a sale is anticipated.

# How do you turn a Georgia probate filing into a real estate lead?

The filing tells you an estate exists. Four more steps tell you whether it is worth your time.

1. Confirm the county of domicile, not the property county. An estate filed in Gwinnett can hold a house in Hall. Search where the person lived, then follow the assets.

2. Pull the full docket, not the petition. Check whether letters have actually been issued, whether the will went in under Common or Solemn Form, whether a caveat has been filed, and whether the personal representative has already been discharged. A discharged estate is closed. A caveat means heirs are not aligned, which is slower but often a stronger motivation to sell.

3. Cross-reference the county tax assessor. The petition may not itemize real property. Match the decedent's name and last known address against assessor records to find the parcel, the assessed value, and the tax payment status. Delinquent taxes on an open estate is the clearest motivation signal available in public data.

4. Identify who can actually sign. The personal representative named in the letters is the only person with authority to sell. On larger estates in Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett there is usually an attorney of record, and on those the attorney is the better first contact. Probate attorneys carry several clients who need to sell and refer the professionals they trust.

Follow-up is where most of this falls down. Georgia estates run 6 to 18 months, so a personal representative who says no in month two is a different conversation in month seven. A 90-day cadence across your covered counties separates the agents who close probate deals from the ones who collect lists.

# Which Georgia counties does ProbateData cover?

Seven: Cherokee, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Fayette, Fulton and Gwinnett. Together they cover metro Atlanta and its highest-growth suburbs.

Every lead is a verified court filing with a case number, not a death record or a pre-probate prediction. Each one carries the property records matched to the estate, the personal representative skip traced with mailing address, phone and email where available, the attorney of record where one is named, and MLS tracking so you can see whether the property has already listed.

Working the manual process across seven counties means three different portals, two counties with no online search at all, assessor cross-referencing on every case, and skip tracing after that. The research is legitimate and it works. It is also most of a working week each month.

You can see the full coverage list at probatedata.com/counties, or start a 7-day trial for $1 and search the Georgia counties directly.

For the wider method across every state, see the national guide to finding probate records by county.

# Frequently asked questions

Are Georgia probate records public?

Yes. Every probate filing in Georgia is a public record held by the county probate court, and anyone can inspect it without being an heir, an attorney, or a party to the case. Public does not mean digitized, though. Several Georgia counties, including Fulton and DeKalb, hold probate records that can only be read at the courthouse or requested from the court.

How do you look up probate records in Georgia?

County by county. Georgia has no statewide probate search. Identify the county where the deceased was legally domiciled, then use that court's own system: Cobb has a free public search at probateonline.cobbcounty.gov, Gwinnett estate cases are on the Tyler Odyssey portal, Cherokee runs its own estate and marriage database, and Coweta and Fayette are searchable through GeorgiaProbateRecords.com. Fulton and DeKalb require a records request or an appointment.

Is there a statewide Georgia probate records database?

No. Georgia's 159 counties each operate an independent probate court. Three unrelated vendor platforms serve different courts, re:SearchGA from Tyler Technologies, PeachCourt, and GeorgiaProbateRecords.com from i3 Verticals, and they do not share data. The state's e-Access to Court Records page lists mainly State and Superior courts, so searching there for an estate will usually return nothing even when the estate exists.

How long does probate take in Georgia?

Most Georgia estates run 6 to 18 months from filing to distribution, and contested estates run longer. Georgia sets no deadline for completing an administration, but it imposes interim deadlines: creditor notice must be published within 60 days of qualification under O.C.G.A. 53-7-41, the creditor claim window runs 3 months from the last publication, and an inventory is due within 6 months of qualification under O.C.G.A. 53-7-30.

What is the difference between Common Form and Solemn Form probate in Georgia?

Common Form is faster and requires no notice to heirs, and under O.C.G.A. 53-5-19 it becomes conclusive four years after the order admitting the will, except for minor heirs who may challenge within four years of reaching majority. Solemn Form requires notice to all heirs and under O.C.G.A. 53-5-20 is conclusive against everyone properly served, and against all persons regardless of service six months after the order is entered. Executors planning a sale usually choose Solemn Form because title insurers prefer it.

What does it cost to get copies of Georgia probate records?

O.C.G.A. 15-9-60 sets the statutory fees: $10.00 for a certified copy of letters of appointment, $10.00 plus $1.00 per page for other certified documents, $1.00 per page for plain copies, and $10.00 for clerk examination of records per estate or name searched. Individual counties add local charges, so confirm with the court before ordering a batch.

Which Georgia counties generate the most probate filings?

The metro Atlanta counties produce the highest volume: Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb. Cherokee, Coweta and Fayette generate smaller but growing volumes as suburban growth pushes the metro footprint outward.

How do you find the personal representative for a Georgia estate?

The personal representative is named in the letters testamentary or letters of administration in the court file, usually with an address. On estates with an attorney of record, the attorney's details also appear in the filing and are often the more effective first point of contact on larger estates.