A Georgia real estate investor who owns properties in Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee does not face one probate proceeding when they die. They face three — one in each state where real property is titled. Each proceeding has its own court, its own timeline, its own attorney fees, and its own rules.
Most Georgia investors know probate exists. Almost none have planned for the fact that it can happen in multiple states at the same time.
What Ancillary Probate Is
Ancillary probate is a secondary probate proceeding required in any state where a deceased person owned real property — separate from the primary probate proceeding in their home state.
If you are a Georgia resident who owns a rental property in Florida, your Georgia estate goes through Georgia probate. The Florida property goes through Florida ancillary probate. These are separate court proceedings running at the same time. Each requires its own attorney licensed in that state. Your Georgia probate attorney cannot represent the estate in Florida. Your family needs a second attorney for a second proceeding.
Each proceeding has its own start date, its own filing requirements, and its own timeline. They do not coordinate with each other.
What This Costs
Each ancillary proceeding carries its own attorney fees. In Florida, probate attorney fees typically run 2 to 4 percent of the property’s value in that state. Court filing fees add to that. And the timeline runs 9 to 18 months per state.
A $300,000 Florida rental property in ancillary probate costs $6,000 to $12,000 in attorney fees alone. Add court costs and the cost of carrying the property — mortgage, taxes, insurance — for up to 18 months while it sits frozen. Your Georgia attorney is still billing for the primary proceeding. Your Florida attorney is billing for the secondary one. Both at the same time.
For an investor with properties in three states, those costs multiply. And during all of it, the properties cannot be sold, the rents may have no authorized collector, and your family is managing court deadlines in multiple jurisdictions.
Properties Inside an LLC Do Not Avoid This
Some investors believe holding the out-of-state property in an LLC avoids ancillary probate. The LLC entity may be registered in Georgia. But if the LLC membership interest is in your personal name at death, it goes through probate in Georgia.
The LLC still owns the Florida property. But without an authorized member, no one can act on behalf of the LLC in Florida either. The entity is intact. The property is still frozen. The LLC wall stopped the Florida ancillary proceeding — but created a Georgia probate proceeding over the membership interest instead, with the same result for the family trying to manage the Florida property.
What a Trust Does
When the out-of-state property — or the LLC that holds it — is inside a Georgia revocable living trust, there is no ancillary proceeding. The successor trustee has authority over all trust assets under the trust document, regardless of where those assets are located.
No Florida probate. No Tennessee probate. One trust, one successor trustee, one set of instructions. The trust is a Georgia document. It governs all of the assets inside it. The successor trustee steps in everywhere at once.
The deed transfers or LLC assignments in each state still need to comply with that state’s requirements. But those happen during your lifetime when you fund the trust — not after your death in a court proceeding.
What Our Firm Has Seen
Our firm has worked with Georgia investors whose estates required ancillary probate proceedings in two additional states. The combined attorney fees across three proceedings exceeded the cost of a complete trust plan several times over. The family spent 20 months navigating three court systems simultaneously, with properties in two states generating no income and deteriorating while the proceedings ran.
What Your Family Sees Instead
Your trust holds your Georgia LLCs and your out-of-state properties. Your successor trustee has one document and one set of instructions. The day you die, they have authority in every state where you owned property. No Florida filing. No Tennessee filing. No second or third attorney. No 18-month multi-state proceeding.
The properties stay managed. The income keeps flowing. Your family deals with one process, not three.
For Real Estate Investor estate planning, out-of-state holdings are one of the most commonly overlooked gaps. Schedule a Family Protection Audit to map every state where you own property and confirm the plan covers all of it.