What a Georgia Beneficiary Deed Is
A Georgia beneficiary deed — also called a transfer-on-death deed — is governed by O.C.G.A. § 44-17-1 et seq., enacted by SB 420 and effective July 1, 2024. Under § 44-17-2(a), the deed transfers ownership of real property to a named beneficiary at the owner’s death without requiring consideration.
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: $25 flat statewide under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-77. Minor e-recording surcharges ($0.50–$2.00) may apply in some counties. 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: No specific flat fee is verified by independent sources. Advertised prices vary by firm. If you use an attorney to prepare the deed, expect to pay a preparation fee on top of the $25 recording cost. 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 9-Month Affidavit Deadline
Georgia’s beneficiary deed does not transfer property automatically. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-17-2(c) and (d), the beneficiary must record an affidavit within nine months of the owner’s death confirming:
- The owner’s date of death
- The owner’s marital status at time of death
- The legal description of the property
If the affidavit is not filed within nine months, the property interest reverts to the decedent’s estate — and goes through probate. The probate the deed was supposed to avoid is triggered by a filing deadline the beneficiary did not know about or missed.
A revocable trust does not have a post-death filing deadline. The successor trustee takes over on the date of death. No affidavit. No nine-month window. No court.
What Happens If the Beneficiary Dies First
Under O.C.G.A. § 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. § 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 affidavit deadlines, 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 — Unsettled 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.
Whether a Georgia TOD deed protects against MERP clawback is genuinely unsettled as of 2024. Georgia’s MERP regulation (GAC 111-3-8) defines “estate” broadly — including property passing by “joint tenancy, right of survivorship, life estate, survivorship, trust, annuity, or any other arrangement.” That language is potentially broad enough to capture TOD deed transfers. No Georgia court or regulatory guidance has resolved this question under the 2024 statute.
A revocable trust also does not guarantee MERP protection. 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 — if affidavit filed within 9 months |
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 |
No |
No (revocable trust = owner’s asset) |
| Medicaid recovery protection |
Unsettled |
Unsettled — requires separate planning |
| Cost |
$25 recording fee + attorney prep |
$3,500–$6,000 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.
