What You Pay to the State of Georgia
The Georgia Secretary of State charges a flat filing fee to form an LLC. These are the confirmed current amounts:
1
Articles of Organization — online
$110 total ($100 statutory fee + $10 online service charge). This is the most common path and the fastest. Processing takes 7–10 business days with standard handling.
2
Articles of Organization — by mail
$120 total ($110 fee + $10 processing). Slower than online filing. No practical advantage for most investors.
3
Expedited processing — 2 business days
$100 additional on top of the filing fee. Useful if you are closing on a property and need the LLC active quickly.
4
Annual registration fee
$60 total ($50 statutory + $10 service charge) due by April 1 each year. Late renewal adds a $25 penalty. This fee starts in year two.
There is no Georgia franchise tax and no state income tax on the LLC itself. Pass-through taxation means rental income flows to your personal return.
What It Actually Costs to Do This Right
The state fee is the smallest item in the LLC formation budget. Here is the full cost picture:
| Cost Item |
DIY Path |
Attorney Path |
| Articles of Organization (online) |
$110 |
$110 |
| Registered agent (Year 1) |
$0 (self) |
$100–$300/yr (professional) |
| Operating agreement |
$0–$50 (template) |
$500–$1,500 (attorney-drafted) |
| Annual registration (Year 2+) |
$60/year |
$60/year |
| EIN (IRS) |
$0 |
$0 |
| Total Year 1 (DIY) |
$110–$160 |
$710–$1,910 |
Deed transfer costs $550 at The Hive Law and is billed as a separate cost from LLC formation.
The operating agreement is the most important document in this table. Georgia does not require an operating agreement, but without one naming a successor member, you have no clear answer to the question of what happens when you die. A template from an online service costs less than $50. An attorney-drafted agreement built for a rental property investor costs $500–$1,500. The difference is whether someone who knows Georgia law thought through the specific scenarios relevant to your portfolio.
What an LLC Protects — and What It Does Not
The main reason investors form an LLC is liability protection. Here is what Georgia law actually provides.
Charging order protection under O.C.G.A. § 14-11-504 limits a judgment creditor’s remedy against your membership interest to a charging order. The creditor cannot seize LLC assets or force a sale of the property inside the LLC. This is real protection. If a tenant wins a judgment against you personally, they cannot reach the properties held by the LLC.
A claim that arises from the property itself (a slip and fall at the rental unit, a negligent maintenance claim) is a claim against the LLC, not against you personally. The charging order protection does not apply here because the LLC is the defendant, not you.
For a full overview of why an LLC without a trust leaves your rental properties exposed, read the companion article on exactly what the LLC leaves unprotected.
What Happens to Your LLC When You Die in Georgia
This is the question that changes the entire cost calculation.
When a Georgia LLC member dies, the LLC itself does not go to probate. The membership interest does. Your ownership stake in the LLC becomes part of your probate estate, subject to Georgia’s court supervision process.
Under O.C.G.A. § 14-11-506, the executor or administrator of a deceased member’s estate receives only the economic rights of the membership interest, meaning distributions, if any. They do not automatically get voting rights, management rights, or the ability to act on behalf of the LLC. If your operating agreement does not address what happens to membership rights at death, no one has clear authority to manage the LLC while the estate is in probate.
The practical result for a single-member LLC owning a rental property:
The family cannot sell the property without court approval. The family cannot refinance. Rental income may freeze while the bank confirms who has authority to collect it. Probate for a real estate investor’s estate in Georgia takes 18 to 30 months and costs an average of $27,300 in attorney fees, before accounting for property-specific costs like a court-supervised sale discount.
For a detailed breakdown, see the full article on the cost of probate for Georgia rental properties.
Does an operating agreement successor clause fix this? Partially. If your operating agreement names a successor member with full membership rights, that person can step into your management role without waiting for probate to resolve. But the membership interest itself is still a probate asset. The successor clause improves interim governance. It does not remove the membership interest from your estate.
The LLC + Trust Combination — and What That Costs
The complete solution is a revocable trust that holds the LLC membership interest. When the trust holds the LLC, your membership interest is a trust asset, not a probate asset. At your death, the successor trustee steps in immediately. No court. No waiting. No frozen rental income.
1
Form the LLC
$110 to the state. Registered agent and operating agreement on top of that.
2
Draft the revocable trust
Includes the trust document, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, and healthcare directive. The trust also names the successor trustee who will manage your portfolio when you are gone or incapacitated.
3
Update the LLC operating agreement
The OA must reflect the trust as the member, not you personally. An OA that names you as member while the trust is the actual owner creates a contradiction that complicates administration.
4
Transfer the LLC membership interest to the trust
This is a document, not a deed. The trust becomes the member of record. The property stays in the LLC. Only the ownership of the LLC moves.
5
Transfer property deeds into the LLC (if not already done)
$550 per property at The Hive Law, which includes deed preparation, PT-61 filing, and recording at the county courthouse.
Total cost at The Hive Law: $3,000 for the complete setup on one property: trust, LLC operating agreement update, and deed transfer. Additional properties add $550 per deed, up to $8,500 for a full portfolio.
For a full breakdown of what is included, see how much estate planning costs for Georgia real estate investors.
| Structure |
Formation Cost |
Annual Cost |
What Happens at Death |
| LLC (DIY) |
$110–$160 |
$60/yr |
Membership interest to probate. 18–30 months. |
| LLC + attorney operating agreement |
$710–$1,910 |
$60/yr |
Membership interest to probate, better interim governance |
| LLC + revocable trust |
$3,000 |
$60/yr |
Successor trustee steps in immediately. No probate. |
The $3,000 difference between a DIY LLC and the complete structure is the number that matters. Compare it to $27,300 in average probate attorney fees, before factoring in lost rental income or a forced sale discount.
Transferring Property Into the LLC — PT-61 and the Transfer Tax Question
If you already own rental property in your personal name and want to move it into an LLC, you will file a deed transfer. In Georgia, every deed transfer requires a PT-61 form filed through the GSCCCA eFiling system at erealestatetax.georgia.gov.
Transfer tax exemption: Georgia imposes a transfer tax on most real estate conveyances. However, a transfer from an individual to a wholly-owned LLC where the individual holds the majority ownership interest qualifies for a transfer tax exemption under O.C.G.A. § 48-6-2(a)(9). The PT-61 must still be filed to claim the exemption. It is not automatic.
The due-on-sale clause: Conventional mortgages include a due-on-sale clause that gives the lender the right to call the note if you transfer title without their consent. Most lenders do not exercise this right for transfers into a single-member LLC where the borrower retains control, but the legal risk exists. Confirm with your servicer before transferring the deed.
Cost at The Hive Law: $550 per property. This covers deed preparation, PT-61 filing, and recording at the county courthouse.
One LLC or a Separate LLC for Each Property?
The cost calculation changes depending on your structure.
One LLC for all properties: One filing fee, one annual registration, one operating agreement. Simpler to administer. But if one property generates a lawsuit, all properties in that LLC face the same judgment creditor’s charging order.
Separate LLC per property: One filing fee and one annual registration per property. More administrative overhead. Isolates liability so a judgment against one property cannot reach the others.
For most investors with two to four properties, separate LLCs per property is the better structure. The additional $110 filing fee per property is not the deciding factor. The liability isolation is. For a detailed cost and protection comparison, see one LLC vs. separate LLC per rental property in Georgia.
In either case, the trust sits above the LLCs and holds all membership interests. Multiple LLCs held by one trust is the standard structure for a growing rental portfolio. For a full comparison of structure options, see the best way to hold rental properties in Georgia for estate planning.
