Affidavit of Descent in Georgia: Contents, Recording, and Title Effects

An affidavit of descent in Georgia is a sworn document that identifies the heirs of someone who died without a will, used most often to clear the way for selling, refinancing, or insuring real estate the deceased owned. Recording it with the superior court clerk in the county where the property sits places the heirs’ interests in the public land records, filling the gap left when a property owner dies intestate and no deed exists to move title to the next generation.

What the Affidavit Does and Doesn’t Do

When a Georgia property owner dies without a will, nothing automatic moves the property to the heirs. The county deed records still show the deceased person as the owner. An affidavit of descent bridges that gap by stating, under oath, who the deceased person’s family members were and which of them inherit under Georgia law. Once recorded, it becomes part of the chain of title and puts buyers, lenders, and title examiners on notice of the heirs’ ownership.

The affidavit is evidence of inheritance, not a conveyance. It does not transfer title the way a deed does. Title companies and closing attorneys read it to trace ownership from the deceased to the living heirs, and in straightforward cases a recorded affidavit combined with a deed signed by all the heirs is enough to close a sale without full probate administration.

Who Inherits Under Georgia Intestacy Law

The affidavit has to reflect Georgia’s rules for inheritance without a will. O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1 sets the order of priority:¹

Surviving spouse and no children: the spouse inherits everything.
Surviving spouse with children: the spouse and children share equally, but the spouse’s share cannot drop below one-third of the estate no matter how many children there are.
No surviving spouse: the estate passes to the nearest living relatives in this order — children, then parents, then siblings (with nieces and nephews stepping in for a deceased sibling), then grandparents, then aunts and uncles (with first cousins stepping in for a deceased aunt or uncle).

If a child of the deceased died before the deceased but left children, those grandchildren split their parent’s share. Georgia calls this per stirpes distribution. Getting this analysis right is the heart of the affidavit, because listing the wrong heirs or the wrong shares creates title defects that can follow the property for years.

What the Affidavit Must Include

Georgia does not prescribe a single mandatory form for an affidavit of descent used in real property records, but a usable document covers specific ground:

The deceased person’s full legal name, including any aliases or name variations that appear in the deed records, last known address, and date of death.
A statement that the person died without a will and, if applicable, that no administration has been opened on the estate or that administration terminated without the property being distributed.
Marital history: whether the deceased was married, single, or widowed at death, and the names of all spouses if there was more than one marriage.
A complete list of heirs with their full names, relationships to the deceased, and current addresses. If any child predeceased the decedent, the affidavit should name that child’s surviving descendants.
A legal description of the real property affected.
A statement explaining how the listed heirs inherit under Georgia’s intestacy statute.

The affiant should be someone with direct personal knowledge of the family, most often a surviving spouse, adult child, or sibling. Some practitioners also have one or two disinterested witnesses who knew the deceased sign the affidavit to independently corroborate the family relationships. That extra step strengthens the affidavit’s credibility with title insurers later.

How to Sign and Where to Record

The affiant signs before a notary public, who administers the oath and notarizes the signature. Because the affidavit is sworn testimony, the notarization is what gives it legal force.

The notarized affidavit is then recorded with the clerk of the superior court in the county where the real property is located. That is the office holding the county’s deed records, and recording places the affidavit in the chain of title where title searchers, lenders, and buyers will find it. If the deceased owned property in more than one Georgia county, the affidavit has to be recorded separately in each county.

This is different from opening a probate case. You do not file the affidavit of descent with the probate court. The probate court handles formal estate administration, appointment of personal representatives, and related petitions. The affidavit of descent goes into the land records at the superior court clerk’s office.

Recording Costs

Recording fees at Georgia superior court clerks’ offices are modest. County recording fees for deeds and similar real property documents are typically around $25 per filing, though additional page fees or intangible tax requirements can raise the total depending on the county and the transaction. Call the clerk’s office in the county where the property is located to confirm the exact amount before filing.

If the estate requires formal probate administration rather than just recording an affidavit, costs climb. Probate court filing fees for a petition for letters of administration run roughly $200 to $325 in most Georgia counties, with the higher end reflecting the cost of required legal publication. These fees were updated statewide effective January 1, 2026, under Senate Bill 232.

Attorney fees for preparing the affidavit vary with the complexity of the family situation. A surviving spouse with one or two children costs far less to sort out than a blended family, missing heirs, or property spread across multiple counties.

Why Accuracy Matters for Title

A recorded affidavit of descent is one of the first documents a title examiner looks for when an intestate decedent’s property comes up for sale. Without it, the chain of title has a gap: the deed records still show a dead person as the owner, with no documentation of who succeeded to that ownership. That gap makes the property effectively unmarketable.

Recording the affidavit doesn’t automatically make everything clean. Title insurance underwriters treat affidavits of heirship cautiously, because the document is only as reliable as the person who signed it. If the affiant left out an heir, whether intentionally or by mistake, the missing heir’s ownership interest still exists. A title company that finds that discrepancy will likely refuse to insure the title until every heir is identified and participates in the transaction.

In practice, closing attorneys in Georgia will want every heir named in the affidavit to sign the deed conveying the property to the buyer. If an heir is uncooperative or cannot be located, the sale stalls. An error that gets recorded may not surface until a buyer tries to get title insurance, and by then it can delay closing by weeks or months.

Debts That Can Still Surface

Filing an affidavit of descent does not shield inherited property from the deceased person’s debts. Georgia law requires a personal representative to publish notice to creditors within 60 days of qualifying, running once a week for four weeks in the county’s official newspaper.² Creditors then have three months from the last published notice to submit claims. Those who miss the deadline lose their right to equal participation with creditors who filed on time, though they may still recover from remaining assets if funds are available.

When heirs skip formal administration and simply record an affidavit of descent, no personal representative is appointed and no creditor notice runs. The creditor deadline never starts. Outstanding debts can surface years later, and creditors may pursue claims against the property or the heirs personally. If the deceased had significant debts, opening a formal probate estate and running the creditor notice process is often the smarter route, even though it costs more up front.

Year’s Support Can Reshape the Shares

Anyone preparing an affidavit of descent should know about year’s support, a Georgia protection that can override the standard intestacy shares. Under O.C.G.A. § 53-3-1, a surviving spouse and minor children are entitled to property from the estate for their support and maintenance during the 12 months following the death, and this claim takes priority over virtually all other debts and demands.³ Year’s support is filed as a petition in the probate court, not through an affidavit of descent, but it directly affects how much property is left to distribute among the heirs the affidavit lists.

Criminal Exposure for False Statements

Because an affidavit of descent is a sworn statement, false claims in one are a criminal offense. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-10-71, knowingly and willfully making a false statement in a sworn document outside a judicial proceeding is false swearing, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment of one to five years, or both.⁴

Beyond criminal liability, a false affidavit can unravel completed real estate transactions. An omitted heir who later surfaces has a legitimate ownership claim, and any buyer who relied on the inaccurate affidavit faces a potential title dispute. The person who signed the false affidavit can be sued by both the omitted heir and the buyer. This is not a document to prepare casually or with incomplete information about the family.

When to Bring In an Attorney

Simple situations, such as a married couple where one spouse dies and the surviving spouse is the sole heir, can sometimes be handled without legal help. Most families hit at least one complication that makes professional guidance worthwhile.

An attorney is particularly valuable when the deceased was married more than once, had children from different relationships, owned property in multiple counties, or left significant debts. Blended families are where affidavits of descent most often go wrong, because the affiant may not know about or may deliberately leave out children from a prior marriage. A probate attorney can investigate the family tree, confirm the correct intestacy shares, and make sure no heir is overlooked.

Counsel also helps decide whether the affidavit-of-descent route fits the situation at all. When the estate has substantial debts, when heirs disagree about their shares, or when a title company is demanding more than an affidavit, formal probate administration through the county probate court may be the only practical path. That decision is best made early, because recording an affidavit and then discovering you need formal administration wastes time and money.