In Georgia, estates with personal property of $15,000O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239Verified Sep 8, 2026View source or less skip probate with the Bank Deposit AffidavitO.C.G.A. § 7-1-239Verified Sep 8, 2026View source. Real property is outside the affidavitO.C.G.A. § 7-1-239Verified Sep 8, 2026View source, which reaches personal property only. An estate over the limit does not qualify, and no affidavit is prepared for it.

Georgia's recorded instrument, Recorded affidavit relating to land, rests on the general recording statute for affidavits of facts affecting title to land. What a recorded affidavit does, in the statute's words: Recorded affidavits shall be notice of the facts therein recited, where the affidavit shows (among other listed matters) the relationship of persons in the chain of title, the payment of debts of an unadministered estate, or the fact or date of death of a person connected with the titleO.C.G.A. § 44-2-20(a)Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. It is evidence of the facts it states, not a deed; it does not itself transfer title, and a purchaser, lender or title company decides whether to rely on it.

In filed by the clerk of the superior court of the county where the land is located, recorded and indexed in the deed recordsO.C.G.A. § 44-2-20(c)Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. The office records it as it records deeds, in the county where the land lies, and charges its recording fee per page.

It depends on what the person owned and how it was titled. Property with a named beneficiary, joint property with survivorship, and property in a trust pass outside probate. What remains goes through probate unless it is under the state's small estate limit, in which case a small estate affidavit collects it. The Probate Decision Tool applies your state's rules.