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Georgia probate guide

The executor's job in Georgia, and what executors get paid

The short answer

An executor is the person a will names to settle the estate. In Georgia the job runs in a set order. You get letters, give creditors notice, list what the estate owns, pay debts in the law's order, report each year, then hand out the rest. Unless the will or all the heirs set the pay, the law sets it at 2.5% of money in and 2.5% out.

By Georgia Probate Specialist team

On this page
  1. 01The job, in plain terms
  2. 02The steps, in order
  3. 03Paying debts in the right order
  4. 04Two warnings before you pay anyone
  5. 05What the law pays an executor
  6. 06When the pay changes
  7. 07Bond, lawyers and receipts
  8. 08Who can serve
  9. 09The house

The job, in plain terms

This page says executor, but an administrator, picked by the court when there is no will, has the same duties. The law's word for both is personal representative.

Read more

Probate is the court process that puts you in charge of the estate, which is everything your loved one left and owed. The heirs are the people who inherit.

Georgia law asks you to settle the estate efficiently and without needless loss. You follow the will and the court's orders, and you act in the best interest of everyone with a share.

Your powers start when you qualify. That means you take the oath, a sworn promise to do the job, and the probate court issues letters, its paper that lets you act for the estate.

The steps, in order

Each clock below starts from the day you qualify.

  1. Qualify

    You swear the oath before a probate judge or clerk. Then you get letters, and your powers begin.

  2. Within 60 days

    The notice to creditors, the people the estate owes, has to start in the county's legal newspaper. It runs once a week for four weeks.

  3. 3 months after the last notice

    A creditor who waits past this can't hold you liable for money you already paid out to others. It also loses its equal share with creditors of the same rank who were paid first.

  4. Month 6

    The inventory is due: a list of what the estate owns, with a copy mailed to each heir. The will or all the heirs can waive it.

  5. Each year

    A yearly report is due within 60 days after each anniversary of your letters. It shows the money in and out, with an updated list.

  6. After one year

    An heir still waiting on their share can ask the court to make you explain the delay.

  7. The end

    With debts paid and the rest handed out, you ask the court for a discharge, which releases you from the job. The heirs get notice. If no one objects, the judge can sign the order without a hearing.

Official court forms

Paying debts in the right order

Georgia law ranks the estate's debts. A higher group is paid before a lower one.

  • Year's support for a surviving spouse or minor children.
  • Funeral costs that are reasonable for your loved one's circumstances.
  • Other costs of running the estate.
  • Bills from the last illness.
  • Taxes and other debts owed to the state or the United States.
  • Judgments, mortgages and liens from your loved one's lifetime, by rank. A lien tied to one piece of property gets first claim on it only up to its value.
  • Everything else.

Two warnings before you pay anyone

If the estate owes more than it owns, a Georgia probate judge's guide says to see a lawyer before paying any debts.

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If your loved one had Medicaid long-term care, the state may have a claim on the estate. Hand out shares before that claim is paid, and you can end up owing it yourself.

What the law pays an executor

The will can set your pay. So can a written agreement signed by all the heirs. If neither does, Georgia law sets it.

Received: house sale $150,000 plus bank accounts $30,000, at 2.5%
$4,500
Paid out for debts and to the heirs: $170,000, at 2.5%
$4,250
Executor pay in this example
$8,750
Example only. The pay is figured on money in and money out, never on the pay itself.
  • 2.5% of the money you receive for the estate.
  • 2.5% of the money you pay out for debts and to the heirs.
  • 10% of the interest earned when you lend estate money.
  • Up to 3% of the value when you hand over property itself, like the house, instead of cash. The court sets the amount.
  • Up to 10% of the yearly income from land you manage for the estate, if the court allows it.

When the pay changes

Say the heirs keep the house and you deed it to them instead of selling. The court sets your pay for that, up to 3% of the house's value.

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You can turn down all or part of the pay. You can also ask the court for more than the set amount, even if the will sets less. The heirs get notice and 30 days to object in writing, and the court allows what is reasonable.

Miss a yearly report without good cause, and you lose that year's pay. Two executors split the pay by the work each one does. An executor who takes over from another isn't paid twice on the same money.

Bond, lawyers and receipts

A bond works like insurance for the heirs. If estate money goes missing, the bond covers it. An administrator needs one unless every heir agrees to waive it. For an executor named in a will, ask the clerk what your court requires.

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If someone says an executor with no bond is mishandling the estate, the court can hold a hearing. It can then require a bond or take the letters away.

You can hire a lawyer when the estate needs one. The court can set the lawyer's fee if you or the lawyer ask it to. Keep every receipt, since the yearly report lists what came in and went out.

Official court forms

Who can serve

Any adult who can manage their own affairs can serve, whatever their citizenship and wherever they live. This rule covers an estate of someone who lived in Georgia when they died.

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Living out of state is allowed. A judge or clerk in your state can give the oath through GPCSF 53.

Two co-executors act together on every decision, unless the will says otherwise. If one does wrong and the other joins in, hides it or carelessly lets it happen, both can be liable.

Official court forms

Read next: Handling an estate from out of state

The house

To sell it, you need the power to sell. It comes from the will, from the heirs at the start, or from the court's leave to sell after notice to the heirs.

Read more

A deed you sign as executor doesn't bind the estate to a warranty, a promise to defend the buyer's ownership later. You aren't personally bound by one either, unless the deed plainly says so.

Passing the house to an heir is called assent. For a house, it is done in writing with a deed.

Quick answers

Questions people ask

Can an executor also inherit?

Yes. You can take your share and be paid for the work. Georgia law even lets you earn pay on money you pay out to yourself, though not on your own pay.

Can I turn down executor pay?

Yes. You can waive all of it or part of it.

How much is executor pay on a $200,000 estate?

If the will and the heirs leave it to the law, it is 2.5% of what comes in plus 2.5% of what goes out. If $200,000 comes in as cash and about that much goes out, the pay is close to $10,000.

Does an executor need a bond in Georgia?

It depends on the will and the court, so ask the clerk. With no will, the administrator needs a bond unless every heir waives it.

Where these facts come from24 sources

This page explains how things work. It is not legal advice. Each fact here comes from one of these sources.