Work it out on your own number

Georgia’s commission is one of the few in the country that does not run on the size of the estate. It runs on the money that moves through it.

What each part costs

Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where Georgia fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.

What changes YOUR number in Georgia

Money moved, not money owned

The commission is charged on receipts and on payments, so it tracks activity rather than size. An estate holding a single valuable house that is transferred in kind generates very little commission on the 2.5% rows. An estate that sells assets, collects the proceeds and pays a long list of debts generates a great deal.

What the will can do to the whole thing

Compensation named in the will, in a written agreement made with the deceased before death, or in an agreement signed by all the beneficiaries of a testate estate or all the heirs of an intestate one, displaces the statutory percentages. A personal representative may also give up the right to compensation entirely.

The three allowances people forget

On top of the 2.5% rows: 10% of the interest made where the representative lent estate money in that capacity and brought the interest back in; for property handed over in kind rather than sold, reasonable compensation set by the probate court of no more than 3% of the appraised value, or of the fair value the judge finds where there was no appraisal; and, for working land for the benefit of the people interested, whatever the probate court thinks right up to 10% of the annual income of the land managed.

$175 is the petition, not the bill

Three further Code sections add to the $175. Judicial accounting adds a flat $15.00 in the probate court on a petition for letters of administration, for probate of a will in solemn or common form, for an order that no administration is necessary, or for year’s support — collected once per decedent however many of those petitions are filed. Alternative dispute resolution adds up to $10.00 and the county law library up to $5.00. Those two are ceilings rather than prices: the chief judge fixes each amount, and neither may be collected at all unless the county has established the programme or the library and the chief judge has first found that a need exists. So the certain figure is $190.00 and the statutory maximum is $205.00. Service of process and the cost of publishing the citation sit outside court costs altogether and are billed separately.

The bond default is backwards from most states

In most states no bond is required unless someone asks for one. In Georgia an intestate administrator must post one unless the heirs unanimously relieve them. The amount is fixed by §53-6-51(c): double the value of the estate to be administered, or equal to that value where the bond is secured by a licensed commercial surety authorised to transact business in Georgia. Real property held by the representative as fiduciary is left out of the value — but once the land is sold, the bond is given on the estate including the money the land became. The “double the personal property” figure that circulates comes from a 1981 case on a section since repealed, and it is not what the statute says.

Three tools, in the order most people need them

Georgia probate cost questions

How much does an executor get paid in Georgia?

Where the will or a written agreement does not say otherwise, 2.5% of all sums of money received on account of the estate plus 2.5% of all sums paid out. Further allowances sit on top: 10% of interest earned on estate money lent by the representative, up to 3% of the appraised value of property handed over in kind, and up to 10% of the annual income of land worked for the people interested.

Does Georgia set probate attorney fees by statute?

No. The compensation article fixes commissions for the personal representative and sets nothing at all for the attorney. The fee is agreed and paid as an expense of administration, though the probate court may take what the estate has paid in professional fees into account when deciding the representative’s commission.

What does it cost to file a probate petition in Georgia?

$175 for the petition, and the same figure applies in every probate court in the state. Statutory add-ons go on top: a flat $15.00 for judicial accounting, up to $10.00 for alternative dispute resolution and up to $5.00 for the county law library — so $190.00 is what you certainly pay and $205.00 is the most the statutes allow. A motion, response, request, citation or caveat is $75, and a fiduciary compliance report with assets to report is $40. Service of process and publication sit outside court costs by the statute itself.

How much is the newspaper notice in Georgia probate?

Georgia sets no price. The notice runs once a week for four weeks in the official newspaper of the county where the representative qualified — the county’s designated legal organ, not a paper of the representative’s choosing — and that paper sets its own rate.

Does Georgia have a small estate affidavit?

Not of the usual kind, and no general dollar threshold exists. Where someone dies without a will, an heir may petition the probate court for an order that no administration is necessary — which requires an agreement on division signed by all the heirs, and either no debts or the consent of every known creditor, and nothing about it depends on the size of the estate. Separately, a bank deposit of no more than $15,000 belonging to someone who died without a will can be paid out on an affidavit under §7-1-239, to the spouse, then the children, then the parents, then the siblings.

Sources & verification

Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. Georgia’s official Code is published by LexisNexis with free public access but no stable address for an individual section, so each entry carries the navigation path to the exact text we read.