Guide / Find their property
How to find out what property your loved one owned in Georgia.
You knew about the house they lived in. You didn't know about the lot in Macon they bought in 1987, or the rental in Henry County, or the share of family land they inherited from their grandmother. Here's how to find out, for free, using Georgia's public records.
Start with the county tax assessor's database.
Every Georgia county runs a public property-tax website. You can search by owner name and see every parcel of real estate in that county that lists your loved one as the owner of record — including parcels they may have forgotten about.
A few of the metro Atlanta counties:
- Fulton: qpublic.net/ga/fulton or the Fulton County Board of Assessors site.
- DeKalb: dekalbcountyga.gov property search.
- Cobb: cobbassessor.org owner search.
- Gwinnett: gwinnettassessor.manatron.com.
Search the deceased's name in each county where they ever lived or might have owned property — including spouses' counties, family land counties, and any county where they grew up.
Search statewide for less obvious property.
If you suspect property outside metro Atlanta, the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority hosts a statewide Real Estate Index at gsccca.org. Searching by name shows every deed recorded in Georgia for that person — purchase, sale, mortgage, lien, the whole history.
The basic Real Estate Index search is free; full deed images require a small fee. For finding out what they owned, the free name search is enough.
Look for paperwork at home.
Before going online, check the obvious physical places:
- Deed file folders. Most people who own property keep the original deed in a folder, drawer, or fireproof box.
- Property tax bills. Annual; usually arrives in September–October. If they got bills for a property you don't recognize, it's probably theirs.
- Insurance policies. Homeowners' and rental-property policies in the policy file.
- Old mortgage statements, even paid-off ones.
- Bank statements showing recurring tax or insurance payments for an address you don't recognize.
What about non-real-estate property?
Financial accounts and personal property are harder to discover because there's no statewide registry. The quickest path:
- Mail. Watch for statements from banks and investment firms for 60–90 days. Tax forms (1099s) arrive in January.
- Email. Banking and investment accounts almost always send email alerts. Check the deceased's email (with proper authority) for sender names of financial institutions.
- Georgia Unclaimed Property database (georgia.findyourunclaimedproperty.com) — old dormant accounts the state has taken custody of.
- Safe deposit box keys. If you find one, the bank may help you access it once you have Letters from the probate court.
Once you have a list, then what?
That list of assets becomes the basis for probate. We'll walk through what each asset means for the case, what requires probate to transfer, and what doesn't. Free 15-minute call.
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