To set up a living trust in Georgia, you sign a written trust document that names a trustee and at least one identifiable beneficiary, identifies the property going into the trust, and — this part is easy to miss — expressly reserves your right to revoke or amend it. Then you retitle your assets into the trust’s name. The document creates the trust; the retitling makes it work.
Get the Document Right First
Georgia’s trust statute is short on formalities but strict on substance. Under Georgia Code 53-12-20, an express trust must be in writing and signed by the settlor (the person creating it), and five elements must be reasonably certain: your intent to create a trust, identifiable trust property, at least one ascertainable beneficiary, a named trustee, and trustee duties either spelled out in the document or supplied by law.1Justia Law. Georgia Code 53-12-20 – Express Trusts No magic words are required. Two witnesses and a notary are not required either — that rule applies to wills, not trusts.
Now the Georgia-specific trap. State law presumes every trust is irrevocable unless the document expressly reserves the settlor’s power to revoke or modify it.2Justia Law. Georgia Code 53-12-40 – Revocation and Modification Generally If you want a revocable living trust — and most people do, because it lets you change beneficiaries, swap assets in and out, or dissolve the trust entirely — the document has to say so in clear language. Leave that clause out and a Georgia court will treat the trust as irrevocable, which means you cannot change it without beneficiary consent or a court order. This is the single most important drafting point in Georgia.
Notarization and witnesses are not legally required, but most attorneys arrange both anyway. Banks, brokerages, and county clerks are far more cooperative with a notarized document when you later show up to retitle assets.
Choosing Trustee, Successor Trustee, and Beneficiaries
Georgia’s trust code recognizes three core roles.3Justia Law. Georgia Code 53-12-2 – Definitions The settlor is you. The trustee holds legal title and manages the property; most people name themselves as initial trustee, so daily life with the assets feels unchanged. The successor trustee steps in when you die or become incapacitated, and this is the choice that matters most for what happens after you. An adult child, a sibling, or a professional fiduciary are common picks. You can name co-trustees or a chain of alternates.
Beneficiaries can be specific people, charities, or a class such as “my grandchildren,” as long as they are reasonably identifiable at creation or within the period allowed by the rule against perpetuities.1Justia Law. Georgia Code 53-12-20 – Express Trusts
Attorney or Do-It-Yourself Software
You have two realistic paths. A Georgia estate planning attorney is the safer route, especially if you have a blended family, business interests, out-of-state property, or significant assets. A basic living trust package generally runs from several hundred to several thousand dollars depending on complexity. The attorney will handle the revocability language, incapacity provisions, and distribution terms.
Legal-document software or an online service built for Georgia can work for straightforward situations — a single person or married couple with simple assets and clear beneficiary wishes. The main risk with self-preparation is missing something Georgia-specific, and the revocability clause is the item people most often get wrong. Whatever route you take, make sure the document also addresses what happens if you become incapacitated, not just what happens at death.
Funding the Trust
A trust with no assets in it is a set of instructions and nothing more. Funding means changing the legal owner of each asset from you personally to you as trustee of your trust. The process differs by asset type.
Real Estate
You need a new deed, usually a quitclaim deed, transferring title from your individual name to yourself as trustee of your named trust. Use the full legal description from the current deed, and record the new deed with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the property is located.
Georgia’s real estate transfer tax is $1.00 on the first $1,000 of value and $0.10 per additional $100.4Justia Law. Georgia Code 48-6-1 – Transfer Tax Rate Certain transfers are exempt, including deeds of gift and transfers to entities where the transferor holds majority ownership.5Justia Law. Georgia Code 48-6-2 – Exemption of Certain Instruments From Tax A transfer into your own revocable trust involves no sale and no change in beneficial ownership, so it typically qualifies for an exemption. Confirm with the county clerk’s office before you record.
Bank and Investment Accounts
Contact each bank, brokerage, or investment firm directly. They will ask for either the full trust document or a shorter certificate of trust that summarizes the essentials, and they will retitle the account to something like “Jane Smith, Trustee of the Jane Smith Revocable Trust dated [date].” Every institution has its own paperwork, and some will close the old account and open a new one under the trust name.
Personal Property and Vehicles
Furniture, art, jewelry, and collectibles have no title documents. The usual method is an Assignment of Personal Property listing the items and declaring the transfer to the trust; keep it with your trust papers. For titled property such as vehicles, update the registration through your county tag office.
Add a Pour-Over Will
Even careful people forget to retitle something. A pour-over will directs that any assets still in your individual name at death get transferred into your living trust, where they follow the plan you already built. Georgia recognizes pour-over wills, and a will can validly leave property to the trustee of a trust the testator established, even if the trust was amended after the will was executed.6Justia Law. Georgia Code 53-12-71
Two cautions. First, assets passing through a pour-over will still go through probate before landing in the trust, so this is a safety net, not a substitute for funding the trust properly during your lifetime. Second, unlike the trust itself, the pour-over will must meet Georgia’s will-execution requirements: written, signed by you, and attested by two competent witnesses who sign in your presence.7Justia Law. Georgia Code 53-4-20 – Required Writing, Signing, Witnesses, Codicil
Don’t Lose Your Homestead Exemption
Georgia homeowners often worry that moving their residence into a trust will cost them the homestead exemption on property taxes. It generally does not, since you still live in the home and are a beneficiary of the trust. But some Georgia counties require a new homestead application or a trust affidavit confirming you still occupy the residence. Call your county tax commissioner’s office after you record the deed transfer. Skipping this step is one of the most common oversights during trust funding, and it can produce a larger property tax bill until you sort it out.
What a Revocable Trust Will Not Do
Setting up a revocable living trust is a probate-avoidance and incapacity-planning tool. It is not a shield against creditors: because you keep full control over the assets, courts treat them as still yours, and creditors can reach them. It also does not help with Medicaid eligibility, since the assets you could revoke and reclaim count as available resources when you apply for long-term care benefits. Transferring assets into an irrevocable trust can affect Medicaid eligibility, but federal law imposes a 60-month look-back period, and transfers inside that window can trigger a penalty period. Talk to an elder law attorney before going that direction.
Georgia also has no state estate tax (repealed effective July 1, 2014) and no inheritance tax,8ACTEC. State Death Tax Chart so a living trust delivers no state-level tax savings. For most Georgia residents, the value of the trust is skipping probate, keeping the estate private, and having a plan already in place if you cannot manage your affairs.
Amending or Revoking Later
Life changes, and the trust should change with it. Births, deaths, divorces, big purchases, a move out of state — all reasons to update. With a properly drafted revocable trust, you amend by signing a written amendment that references the original trust and describes the changes; for major overhauls, restate the whole trust in a new document rather than stacking amendments. To revoke entirely, sign a written revocation and transfer the assets back into your individual name.
All of this depends on that revocability clause being in the original document.2Justia Law. Georgia Code 53-12-40 – Revocation and Modification Generally If you pull out your trust and cannot find clear language reserving your right to amend or revoke, do not try to patch it yourself. See an attorney.