Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements in Georgia

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Filing, deadline, and verification

O.C.G.A. § 53-7-30 combines the filing and delivery duties in one six-month clock measured from qualification:

“The personal representative shall file the inventory with the probate court and shall deliver a copy of the inventory to the beneficiaries of a testate estate or the heirs of an intestate estate by first-class mail within six months after the qualification of the personal representative.”

The probate court may extend the filing time for good cause. The inventory must say that it is a true statement of all decedent property known to the representative and that the required copies were mailed; it must also identify any beneficiary or heir who waived receipt.

The verification cross-reference is specific. O.C.G.A. § 53-11-8 requires the representative's oath or affirmation before the probate court or a notary public.

Recipients and waiver routes

Section 53-7-30 does not require mailing to a beneficiary or heir who is not sui juris, meaning legally able to act for oneself, and it does not require the court to appoint a guardian solely for that mailing. O.C.G.A. § 53-7-32(a) allows an individual recipient to waive only the right to receive the inventory in a signed writing delivered to the representative; the recipient may later revoke that waiver in writing.

A different rule applies to relief from preparing the inventory. Under O.C.G.A. § 53-7-32(b), unanimous written consent of the beneficiaries or heirs may authorize the probate court to relieve the representative of the duty. Relief from making the inventory also removes the duty to send copies.

Property, values, and appraisers

The operative requirement in § 53-7-30 is an inventory of “all the property of the decedent” within the representative's knowledge. Article 3 does not state a date for valuing that property, a fair-market-value measure, required encumbrance fields, or a separate appraisal process.

O.C.G.A. § 53-7-31 addresses multiple personal representatives, not appraisers:

“The inventory provided for in Code Section 53-7-30 shall be made jointly by all the personal representatives.”

The current article therefore states no independent-appraiser requirement, appointment rule, qualification standard, or appraiser certificate.

Accuracy and noncompliance

The article states no separate deadline for a supplemental or amended inventory. It does provide an express consequence for an incorrect return. O.C.G.A. § 53-7-34 says:

“the failure of a personal representative to return a correct inventory shall be sufficient grounds for removal.”

That removal rule does not apply when the inventory was waived under § 53-7-32 or the will validly dispensed with it under § 53-7-33.

What trips people up

An individual copy waiver is not the same as relief from making the inventory. One beneficiary or heir can waive receipt under § 53-7-32(a), but relief from the inventory duty under subsection (b) requires unanimous written consent and probate-court action.

A will can dispense with an inventory to the court, to beneficiaries, or both, but O.C.G.A. § 53-7-33 limits that route when it would injure creditors or people other than beneficiaries under the will. When the will relieves the representative from filing the inventory with the court, the statute also relieves the representative from sending beneficiary copies.

Common questions

Must all corepresentatives participate?

Yes. O.C.G.A. § 53-7-31 says the inventory is made jointly by all personal representatives, while also providing that the inventory is not conclusive proof that they jointly possessed the assets.

Is there a statewide decedent-estate inventory form?

The current Council of Probate Court Judges statewide form list includes adult and minor conservatorship inventories but no numbered decedent-estate inventory form. The governing duties still come from O.C.G.A. §§ 53-7-30 through -34.

Does Georgia's inventory article require a date-of-death appraisal?

No. The complete current operative article requires a truthful inventory of all decedent property but supplies no valuation date, fair-market-value rule, or appraiser process.

Statutes and sources

• O.C.G.A. § 53-7-30 — property scope, six-month filing and mailing clock, extension, required statements, and verification. Code Revision Commission/Public.Resource.Org release-86 Title 53: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-ga/transforms/ga/ocga/r86/gov.ga.ocga.title.53.html (accessed 2026-08-10).
• O.C.G.A. §§ 53-7-31 through -34 — joint preparation, individual receipt waiver, unanimous-consent and will-based relief, and removal for an incorrect inventory. Same current-law reconstruction source, with § 53-7-32(b) updated by the official enrolled 2025 H.B. 327 (accessed 2026-08-10): https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/238505
• O.C.G.A. § 53-11-8 — oath or affirmation before the probate court or a notary. Same release-86 Title 53 source (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Council of Probate Court Judges statewide forms list — current form index, including conservatorship inventory forms but no decedent-estate inventory form: https://gaprobate.gov/standard-forms/ (accessed 2026-08-10).