Transfer on death deed in Georgia

Georgia at a glance

TOD deed for real estate

Yes

Name in Georgia law

Transfer-on-death deed

Law

O.C.G.A. §§ 44-17-1 to 44-17-7 (added by 2024 Ga. Laws Act 496, SB 420; amended by 2026 Act 379, HB 413)

Notary

Required

Witnesses

1

When to record

Before the death

Where to record

Clerk of superior court of the county where the real estate is located

After-death document

Designated grantee beneficiary affidavit (acceptance affidavit) under O.C.G.A. 44-17-2(d)

Notice to heirs

Not required

Official form

Yes

Your checklist

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Making a valid TOD deed in Georgia

• What the law does. A recorded deed names grantee beneficiaries who take the owner's real estate after death, once a beneficiary signs and records an acceptance affidavit. The owner keeps full ownership and can revoke it during life.
• Signing. The record owner signs. The statutory form is signed in front of an unofficial witness and a notary public. Since HB 413 took effect on 2026-04-22, the owner needs the legal capacity to make a contract, and an attorney-in-fact (agent under a power of attorney) may not sign a TOD deed for the owner. A revocation also needs an officer plus one other witness (it was two other witnesses before 2026-04-22).
• Recording. The deed must be signed, attested, and recorded with the clerk of superior court before the owner dies. The statute sets no deadline for recording after signing. Since HB 413, no real estate transfer tax declaration form is filed with the TOD deed when the owner records it.
• Payment, delivery, acceptance. No payment is needed. The beneficiary's signature, consent, or notice is not required during the owner's life. After death, a beneficiary must accept by affidavit for the transfer to happen.
• Form. Statutory form 'Transfer-on-Death Deed under O.C.G.A. § 44-17-3' (in the enacted SB 420 text). No official acceptance-affidavit form was found.

Changing it, and who you can name

• Revoking or changing. While alive, the owner can revoke by recording an instrument of revocation that refers to the TOD deed. The owner must sign it (since 2026-04-22 an attorney-in-fact can no longer sign), and it is attested by an officer and one other witness. The owner can also record a later TOD deed, which revokes earlier designations. Selling or conveying the property during life also revokes the deed, as does conveying it to the owner's own express trust, or the death of a sole beneficiary before acceptance. A will cannot revoke it.
• Beneficiaries. The owner may name one or more beneficiaries and alternate beneficiaries. A trustee of an express trust may be named, but the deed itself cannot create a trust. If a beneficiary dies before the owner, or after the owner but before accepting, that share lapses and is split evenly among the other living beneficiaries. It does not go back to the estate. Joint tenancy with survivorship among beneficiaries is allowed.

After the owner dies

• Document. Designated grantee beneficiary affidavit (acceptance affidavit) under O.C.G.A. 44-17-2(d)
• Where. Clerk of superior court of the county where the real estate is located
• Steps. Each beneficiary who wants the property signs an affidavit. It confirms the owner's death, says whether the owner and the beneficiary were married at death, and gives the deed book and page of the TOD deed and the legal description. The beneficiary attaches a copy of the death certificate and records the affidavit, a real estate transfer tax declaration form, and related papers with the clerk of superior court. Ownership passes only when the affidavit is signed and recorded. HB 413 (eff. 2026-04-22) removed the nine-month deadline and the rule that the property reverted to the estate. Beneficiaries may get a certified death certificate. The estate's personal representative must notify beneficiaries about the TOD deed.

Debts, Medicaid and the spouse

• Creditors and Medicaid. While the owner is alive, the owner is treated as absolute owner as to creditors and buyers. The beneficiary takes subject to the owner's recorded mortgages, liens, and other recorded interests; a nonconsensual lien against the beneficiary attaches only after the acceptance affidavit is recorded. Since HB 413 (eff. 2026-04-22), a TOD deed takes priority over the estate's unsecured debts filed after death, unless the property is unredeemed. For a solvent estate, the personal representative may pay mortgage, property tax, and urgent repair costs until a beneficiary accepts; the estate gets a priority special lien for amounts not repaid within one year after acceptance. For an insolvent estate, if the property faces imminent foreclosure, condemnation, or destruction and no beneficiary has completed the acceptance affidavit and recording, the personal representative may record an affidavit of notice and sell the property to pay debts. The official sources reviewed say nothing about Medicaid estate recovery.
• Surviving spouse. The beneficiary takes free of claims by a person who married the owner after the TOD deed was signed. The acceptance affidavit must state whether the owner and beneficiary were married. Since HB 413, the year's-support statute yields to a TOD deed.

Good to know in Georgia

• A recorded TOD deed does not sever a joint tenancy; a joint owner's TOD deed takes effect only if that owner is the last surviving joint owner (44-17-6, original 2024 text; not changed by HB 413).
• From 2024-07-01 the original law required the acceptance affidavit within nine months of a death on or after that date, or the property reverted to the estate. HB 413 struck that limit effective 2026-04-22. The official text does not say how deaths between 2024-07-01 and 2026-04-22 are treated now.
• An acceptance affidavit recorded before 2026-07-01 in which one beneficiary accepted for others is effective for those named (44-17-2(f)). Otherwise, a beneficiary may accept only for themselves, unless acting as guardian or conservator for a minor or ward.
• HB 899 (2025-2026), a separate TOD bill, was not enacted. HB 413 (Act 379) is the amending act.

Official pages

• Georgia TOD deed form
• Georgia statute
• No TOD deed or other plan? How Georgia handles a small estate without probate →

Sources

• SB 420 (2024) status, Act 496, eff. 2024-07-01 (read October 28, 2026)
• SB 420 as passed (adds O.C.G.A. ch. 44-17) (read October 28, 2026)
• HB 413 (2026) status, Act 379, signed and effective 2026-04-22 (read October 28, 2026)
• HB 413 as passed House and Senate (read October 28, 2026)

Legal information from the official sources above, not legal advice. A TOD deed can affect Medicaid, taxes, creditors and co-owners; for a decision about your own property, ask the county recorder, a legal aid office or a lawyer. How we check: methodology.