Owning rental properties in your personal name means a tenant lawsuit can reach every asset you own. It also means your entire portfolio goes through Georgia probate when you die, freezing rent collection for about 25 months in the complex probate cases we've handled. An LLC paired with a revocable trust eliminates both exposures.
Owning Georgia rental properties in your personal name creates two separate problems. One happens during your lifetime. The other happens when you die. Most investors know about the first one. The second one catches more families off guard.
Both problems carry real costs when they occur, and Georgia real estate investors use specific structures to close each gap.
A tenant trips on a loose stair and is injured. They sue the property owner. The property owner is you, personally. Your name is on the deed. If they win, the judgment is against you personally. A court judgment gives the creditor legal authority to pursue your personal bank accounts, other properties, and savings, not just the property that generated the lawsuit.
A second tenant files a claim on a second property. A third property has a slip-and-fall. Each lawsuit is against you personally. Your other properties, your retirement accounts, and your savings are all within reach of a judgment creditor because your personal name connects the liability across everything you own.
This is the problem an LLC solves. An LLC creates a legal wall between the property and your personal assets. A judgment against the LLC stays inside the LLC. Your personal accounts are not exposed. See LLC vs. Trust for Rental Properties in Georgia for the full comparison.
When a Georgia property is in your personal name and you die, it goes through probate. Probate is the court-supervised process that transfers assets from a deceased person’s estate to their heirs or beneficiaries.
During those months, the mortgage still runs. Tenants still have needs. Leases expire. Repairs must be authorized. But no one has legal authority to act on the properties until the court appoints a personal representative, and that appointment itself takes time.
The cost of owning in your personal name is invisible until something happens. When it does, the cost arrives all at once. A single personal injury judgment can exceed $500,000. The complex probate cases we’ve handled have taken about 25 months and cost $29,700. On top of that, the family loses rental income during those months of court proceedings.
At The Hive Law, a complete estate plan that restructures your rentals starts at $3,500, plus a flat fee for each rental property and each LLC. That cost occurs once. The cost of not restructuring can recur with every lawsuit and guarantees a probate proceeding at death.
Transfer personally held properties into LLCs. Each LLC creates a liability wall between that property and your personal assets and your other properties.
The trust becomes the owner of the LLC membership interests. At your death, the successor trustee has immediate authority over the portfolio with no court involvement.
A separate assignment document for each LLC transfers the membership interest from your personal name to the trust. Without this step, the LLC still goes through probate.
Any property not inside an LLC must be transferred to the trust by a recorded deed. Each property in your personal name requires its own deed transfer.
For a full breakdown of what a complete investor estate plan includes beyond these four steps, see What an Estate Plan for a Georgia Real Estate Investor Actually Includes. For the segment overview, see Estate Planning for Real Estate Investors in Georgia.
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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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I lost my father in February of this year without any estate planning in place. The process of dealing with the probate court has been overwhelming and expensive. After this experience, I contacted The Hive Law to set up a trust so my children never have to go through what I've been through. Melissa and Shawn were compassionate, knowledgeable, and made the entire process simple. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
I used to know the bare minimum about probate and trust. I first encountered Shawn Breyer on Facebook. He was offering a webinar that I watched. That gave me a better understanding of probate versus trust. I was impressed enough to have him and his wife represent me. I had my initial one on one interview with Melissa Breyer, it went smoothly and she made everything clear. We are now proceeding with getting a revocable trust in place.
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Yes, it creates two specific problems. During your lifetime, your personal name on the deed connects every property lawsuit to your personal assets: bank accounts, savings, and other properties. A court judgment against you personally can reach everything you own. When you die, every property in your personal name goes through probate, a court-supervised process that has taken about 25 months and cost $29,700 in the complex probate cases we’ve handled, plus carrying costs for a multi-property portfolio.
A tenant can sue you personally if you own rental properties in your name. If the rental property is in your personal name, you are the defendant. A judgment against you is against you personally, not just against the property. The judgment creditor can pursue your personal bank accounts, other real estate, and personal savings. This is why most Georgia real estate investors move properties out of personal ownership into LLCs, which create a legal wall between the property and personal assets.
Personally owned rental properties go through probate when the owner dies. Probate is the court-supervised process that transfers assets from the deceased’s estate to heirs. During the proceeding, which has taken about 25 months in the complex probate cases we’ve handled, no one has authority to sell the properties, refinance them, or make major management decisions without court approval. The mortgage still runs. Tenants still need management. The family is frozen out of decision-making while the legal process works through the estate.
There are two main structures Georgia real estate investors use. First, form an LLC and transfer the properties into it. This addresses the lawsuit liability problem. Second, create a revocable living trust and assign the LLC membership interests to it. This addresses the probate problem. Each property held in your personal name (outside an LLC) also needs a recorded deed transfer into the trust. Both steps are required for complete protection. Doing only one leaves one gap open.
Homestead exemption does not apply to rental properties in your personal name. Georgia’s homestead exemption applies to your primary residence only. Rental properties are not eligible for homestead exemption regardless of whether they are in your personal name, an LLC, or a trust. The homestead exemption is relevant to your primary residence. Moving that property into a revocable living trust does not affect the exemption under Georgia law.
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