Your grantee beneficiary has 9 months after your death to either accept the property or not.

To accept the property, the grantee beneficiary must:

(1) Execute an Affidavit with requirements set by law

(2) attach a copy of the record owner’s death certificate to the Affidavit

(3) record the affidavit & death certificate with the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the real estate is located

(4) complete this work within 9 months of the record owner’s death.

When you hire Fletcher Estate Planning to prepare your Georgia Ladybird Deed, we also prepare the necessary Affidavit that your beneficiaries will need later, and we also prepare step-by-step instructions for your beneficiaries to follow. This “Beneficiary Help” package is included with all of our Ladybird Deeds.

If you ask us to, we will also send the necessary Affidavit and step-by-step instructions to your beneficiaries, so that they have everything they need when the time comes.

If the grantee beneficiary does not record the Affidavit within 9 months, then the Property simply goes into the probate estate of the decedent. See O.C.G.A. 44-17-5(d) (“…the interest in the property shall revert to the deceased record owner’s estate…” when the Affidavit isn’t recorded within 9 months).