Georgia probate code · checked October 2026

Georgia Small Estate: The Limit, the Tracks, and the Form

Georgia has no general small-estate affidavit. What it has is narrower: a bank-account affidavit (O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239) that reaches bank accounts up to $15,000 — and Georgia banks are not legally required to honor it. Georgia's affidavit reaches bank accounts only — a house or land needs the Year's Support petition (a spouse or minor children) or probate. Georgia sets no waiting period for its affidavit.

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The Georgia line, in facts

The paper: Statutory affidavit form in O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239(e) (funeral/last-illness providers); GPCSF 9 (No Administration Necessary) and GPCSF 10 (Year's Support) for the court tracks.

How it moves: presented to whoever holds the property; no court case is opened.

The wait: no statutory waiting period.

For a surviving spouse: Spouse is first in the § 7-1-239 payment order (spouse, then children, then parents, then siblings, pro rata within each class); separately, a surviving spouse and minor children may petition for Year's Support under § 53-3-1(c) - 12 months' support, preferred before most debts, no dollar cap.

The tracks in Georgia

Track	Limit	How it works
Small-estate affidavit	$15,000	Presented to whoever holds the property; no court case. Form: Statutory affidavit form in O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239(e) (funeral/last-illness providers); GPCSF 9 (No Administration Necessary) and GPCSF 10 (Year's Support) for the court tracks.
Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary (form GPCSF 9)	—	Two court tracks stand behind the bank affidavit: the Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary (§§ 53-2-40 et seq., form GPCSF 9 — intestate only, all heirs agree, debts paid or creditors consent, no dollar cap) and Year's Support (§ 53-3-1, form GPCSF 10 — a spouse and minor children take 12 months' support ahead of most debts, no dollar cap).

What catches families in Georgia

The cap is $15,000, not the $10,000 in the 2025 Code's older printings and most charts — a 2019 law (HB 490) raised it and a 2020 rewrite (HB 865) restated the section.
The statute says the bank 'shall be authorized to pay' — permission, not a duty. A Georgia bank may delay up to 180 days or decline unless a probate court orders payment; the refusal playbook's honest Georgia answer is the court.
The affidavit is intestate-only and reaches bank deposits only — not vehicles (the Department of Revenue has its own heirship route), not real estate, not brokerage accounts.

Vehicles in Georgia

The § 7-1-239 affidavit reaches bank deposits only, not vehicles; a vehicle title passes through the estate or on the Dept. of Revenue heirship/inheritance affidavit route.

Debts, and the signer's duty

No solvency test in the bank affidavit itself, but the separate No Administration Necessary order requires that all debts have been paid or that all creditors consent or fail to object after notice.

Rules checked October 2026 · Sources: O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239 (2025 Code); O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239.1; O.C.G.A. § 53-3-1(c) (year's support); O.C.G.A. §§ 53-2-40 et seq. (no administration necessary); O.C.G.A. §§ 44-17-1 et seq. (transfer on death deed, eff. July 1, 2024). This page reads the published law; it is not legal advice, and the court is the final word.

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