A Georgia beneficiary deed (formally called a transfer-on-death deed) is a $550 flat fee at The Hive Law. The county clerk charges its own recording fee, set by state law. That low entry cost is why investors consider it. But the cost comparison that matters is not what the deed costs to file. It is what the deed costs when it does not work, when the beneficiary predeceases you, when the required post-death affidavit is never filed, when you become incapacitated and no one can manage the property, or when Medicaid comes looking after you die. A Georgia beneficiary deed carries specific costs: what you pay to set it up, what you pay if it fails, and how that compares to a revocable trust.
How Much Does a Beneficiary Deed Cost in Georgia
At The Hive Law, a Georgia beneficiary deed is a $550 flat fee. The county charges its own filing fee on top. What most people miss is the post-death affidavit requirement (Georgia removed the fixed nine-month deadline for deaths on or after July 1, 2026), the lapse rule if the beneficiary dies first, and the fact that the deed does nothing if you become incapacitated.
What a Georgia Beneficiary Deed Is
A Georgia beneficiary deed (also called a transfer-on-death deed) is governed by O.C.G.A. ยง 44-17-1 et seq., enacted by SB 420 and effective July 1, 2024. Under ยง 44-17-2(a), the owner records a deed that names who receives the real property after the owner’s death. The beneficiary receives no vested interest during the owner’s lifetime. The owner retains full control. They can sell, mortgage, or revoke the deed at any time. The deed has no effect until the owner dies. For a single-property owner with a clear successor and no incapacity risk, a beneficiary deed is a simple probate-avoidance tool. For a rental property investor, it is the wrong instrument for reasons that cost money to discover after the fact.
What a Georgia Beneficiary Deed Actually Costs
Recording fee: One flat fee statewide under O.C.G.A. ยง 15-6-77. No PT-61 Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration is required at recording time. The deed creates a future, revocable interest, not a present transfer. A PT-61 is required post-death when the beneficiary files the acceptance affidavit. Attorney preparation: At The Hive Law, the deed is a $550 flat fee. The county recording fee is separate. If you use a self-help document service, you carry the risk that the deed was drafted incorrectly. What the deed itself costs is not the problem. The problem is what happens when the deed does not perform as expected.
The Post-Death Affidavit Requirement
Georgia’s beneficiary deed does not transfer property automatically. After the owner dies, each person named on the deed signs a sworn statement called an affidavit. Under O.C.G.A. ยง 44-17-2(d), it does four things:
- Confirms the owner’s death
- Says whether that person was married to the owner when the owner died
- Gives the deed book and page number of the recorded deed
- Gives the legal description of the property
Under O.C.G.A. ยง 44-17-2(e), a copy of the death certificate is attached, and the affidavit is recorded with the clerk of superior court in the county where the property is.
When Georgia first allowed these deeds in 2024, the affidavit had to be recorded within nine months of the owner’s death, or the property went back to the estate. House Bill 413, which took effect April 22, 2026, removed that deadline from the law. For a death on or after July 1, 2026, there is no fixed deadline. If the owner died before July 1, 2026, ask an attorney which rule applies. There is no longer a set window the beneficiary must record the affidavit within. The affidavit still must be signed and recorded to complete the transfer; nothing forces a specific timeline for doing so anymore. A revocable trust does not require a post-death affidavit at all. The successor trustee takes over on the date of death. No affidavit. No court. A beneficiary deed still requires the affidavit. Georgia just no longer forces a fixed deadline for filing it.
What Happens If the Beneficiary Dies First
Under O.C.G.A. ยง 44-17-5, if the sole beneficiary predeceases the owner, the transfer lapses and is deemed revoked. Georgia’s anti-lapse statute (O.C.G.A. ยง 53-4-64) applies only to wills, not to TOD deeds. There is no automatic pass-through to the deceased beneficiary’s children or heirs. If you named your adult child as beneficiary and that child dies before you, the deed has no effect. The property goes through probate as if the deed never existed. You can name contingent beneficiaries or multiple beneficiaries to reduce this risk. But each change requires a new deed to be prepared, executed, and recorded.
One Deed Per Property
A beneficiary deed covers one property per deed. A rental property investor with three properties needs three separate deeds, each prepared, executed, notarized, and recorded separately. A revocable trust is a single document that holds an unlimited number of properties, in Georgia and in every other state where you own real estate. For a full breakdown of what transferring a property into a trust actually costs, see How Much Does It Cost to Transfer Property Into a Trust in Georgia. For a five-property portfolio, five separate beneficiary deeds add five separate failure points, five separate recording fees, five separate post-death affidavits to file, and five separate opportunities for the wrong outcome at the wrong moment.
No Incapacity Protection
A beneficiary deed does nothing during your lifetime. If you become incapacitated (through a stroke, dementia, or any other condition), the deed does not authorize your beneficiary to collect rent, pay property taxes, make repairs, sell the property, or refinance it. You are still the owner. The deed has not transferred anything yet. Without a trust with a successor trustee, your family would need to go to court for a guardianship or conservatorship to manage your rental properties while you are alive. That is a separate court proceeding, with its own attorney fees and timeline, that a revocable trust eliminates entirely.
The Medicaid Question: No Reliable Protection in Georgia
If you are over 55 and you receive Medicaid long-term care services, Georgia’s Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP) can make a claim against your estate after you die to recover what Medicaid paid. A Georgia TOD deed does not reliably protect a rental property from MERP. Georgia’s MERP regulation (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 111-3-8-.02(7)) defines “estate” broadly, including property passing by “joint tenancy, right of survivorship, life estate, survivorship, trust, annuity, Individual Retirement Accounts, homestead or any other arrangement.” Georgia’s rule is written broadly enough to reach a TOD deed transfer, and Georgia’s Department of Community Health says in its own guidance that it counts non-probate property. No Georgia court has decided how far the rule can be enforced, but you cannot count on a beneficiary deed to keep the property out of the state’s reach. A revocable trust does not reliably protect against MERP either; Georgia’s rule names trusts. But the trust offers planning tools a beneficiary deed does not: the ability to hold property in a subtrust with specific terms and the ability to restructure before a Medicaid application. If Medicaid planning is relevant to your situation, neither a beneficiary deed nor a revocable trust alone resolves the question. This requires specific Medicaid planning advice.
What a Revocable Trust Covers That a Beneficiary Deed Does Not
| Feature | Beneficiary Deed | Revocable Trust |
|---|---|---|
| Avoids probate at death | Yes, once affidavit is filed | Yes, automatically |
| Covers incapacity | No | Yes, successor trustee takes over |
| Covers multiple properties | One deed per property | All properties in one instrument |
| Covers out-of-state properties | Separate deed in each state’s format | One trust, deeds in each state |
| Anti-lapse protection if beneficiary dies first | No | Yes, successor beneficiary provisions |
| Protects against creditors | Not while you are alive. After you die, a mortgage or recorded lien stays on the home, but the deed comes ahead of your estate’s unsecured debts. | No (revocable trust = owner’s asset) |
| Medicaid recovery protection | No, not reliably | No, not reliably. Georgia’s rule names trusts too. Needs separate Medicaid planning |
| Cost | $550 flat fee + county recording fee | $3,500 plus flat add-ons complete setup |
The beneficiary deed costs less at filing. The revocable trust costs less across a lifetime of property management, incapacity risk, and multi-property succession.
When a Beneficiary Deed Makes Sense
A beneficiary deed is appropriate for a narrow set of situations: a single property, a clear and healthy beneficiary, no incapacity risk, no multi-state holdings, and no Medicaid exposure. For most rental property investors in Georgia, none of those conditions hold cleanly. For a rental portfolio, even a two-property portfolio, a revocable trust is the structure that actually covers what needs to be covered. See Estate Planning for Your Real Estate Portfolio for a full overview of how the trust structure works for Georgia investors. For a cost comparison between a beneficiary deed and the full LLC-plus-trust structure, see Best Way to Hold Rental Properties in Georgia for Estate Planning. For a detailed head-to-head comparison, see Beneficiary Deed vs. Trust for Georgia Rental Properties. For the full pricing breakdown on a revocable trust, see How Much Does Estate Planning Cost for a Real Estate Investor in Georgia.
$550
Flat Fee for a Beneficiary Deed at The Hive Law
The county's recording fee is separate.
No Deadline
Georgia removed the fixed TOD deed filing deadline for deaths on or after July 1, 2026
$3,500+
Revocable Trust (Covers All Properties + Incapacity)
The Process
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Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer is a Georgia estate planning attorney who works exclusively on trust-based estate planning and LLC formation. She personally designs and drafts every plan at The Hive Law after the initial call. Every plan is built from scratch for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.
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Frequently Asked Questions
At The Hive Law, a Georgia beneficiary deed is a $550 flat fee. The county clerk also charges one flat recording fee under O.C.G.A. ยง 15-6-77. No PT-61 transfer tax form is filed when the deed is recorded.
A Georgia beneficiary deed avoids probate only once the beneficiary files a post-death affidavit under O.C.G.A. ยง 44-17-2(d) and (e). When Georgia first allowed these deeds in 2024, the affidavit had to be recorded within nine months of the owner’s death, or the property went back to the estate. House Bill 413, which took effect April 22, 2026, removed that deadline from the law. For a death on or after July 1, 2026, there is no fixed deadline. If the owner died before July 1, 2026, ask an attorney which rule applies. The affidavit must still be filed to complete the transfer, but no set window forces when. The probate bypass is conditional, not automatic.
Under O.C.G.A. ยง 44-17-5, if the only beneficiary named in the deed dies before you, the transfer lapses and is deemed revoked. The property falls back into your estate and goes through probate as if the deed never existed. You can name contingent beneficiaries or more than one beneficiary to reduce this risk, but each change requires a new deed.
A beneficiary deed cannot cover multiple rental properties. Each beneficiary deed covers one specific property. A revocable trust is a single instrument that holds all properties under one document.
A beneficiary deed does not reliably protect against Medicaid estate recovery in Georgia. Georgia’s MERP regulation (r. 111-3-8-.02(7)) defines the estate to include property passing by joint tenancy, survivorship, trust, or any other arrangement, which reaches a TOD deed transfer. No Georgia court has decided how far the rule can be enforced, so this requires specific advice from a Medicaid planning attorney.
A beneficiary deed does not help if you become incapacitated. A beneficiary deed has no effect during your lifetime. Your family would need a court-supervised guardianship or conservatorship, a separate proceeding that a revocable trust eliminates.
A Georgia beneficiary deed is not the same as a Lady Bird deed. Georgia’s code has no Lady Bird deed, which is also called an enhanced life estate deed. What Georgia law does offer is the transfer-on-death deed, in place since July 1, 2024 (O.C.G.A. ยง 44-17-1 et seq.). It lets you name who gets the property when you die and keep full control while you are alive.
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