When two people buy a home together in Atlanta, the deed names both of them as owners. Most people assume that means the surviving spouse automatically gets the property when the other dies. In Georgia, that assumption is wrong in most cases.
Under O.C.G.A. § 44-6-190, Georgia requires the deed to expressly refer to the owners in one of four ways to create automatic transfer at death: “joint tenants,” “joint tenants and not as tenants in common,” “joint tenants with survivorship,” or taking “jointly with survivorship”. Paragraph (a)(3) also accepts language essentially the same as one of those forms, so the bare words “joint tenants” are enough on their own and no single exact phrase is mandated. A deed that says “John Smith and Mary Smith” defaults to tenants in common under O.C.G.A. § 44-6-120. That means each owner’s share goes through their estate when they die. It also means the two owners can end up stuck with each other, and getting out of a tenants in common deed later takes a buyout, a share sale, or a court case.
A simple Georgia probate takes about 13 months and costs an average of $14,700 in attorney and court fees (see how much a revocable trust costs in Georgia for comparison). A surviving spouse who needs to sell, refinance, or transfer a house during that period cannot do so until probate closes and title is clear.
For a full overview of ways to keep Georgia property out of probate court, see our Estate Planning hub.
What Is Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship in Georgia?
Joint tenancy with right of survivorship (JTWROS) is a form of co-ownership where each person holds an equal, undivided interest. When one owner dies, their interest transfers automatically to the surviving owner. No probate. No court filing. No will required for that transfer to happen.
The surviving owner records a certified death certificate with the county Superior Court Clerk. That single step updates the public deed records. The property is in the survivor’s name from that moment forward.
What makes Georgia different from many other states: survivorship is not automatic between spouses. There is no marital presumption. The deed must use the exact statutory language. Many Atlanta-area homeowners who bought property before 2015 are holding deeds that will send half of their home through probate when either spouse dies.
How JTWROS Works When One Owner Dies in Atlanta
When a joint tenant dies, their ownership interest ends immediately. It does not appear in their will. It does not enter their estate. The surviving joint tenant owns the full property from the moment of death.
The process for the surviving owner in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, or Gwinnett County:
1
Obtain a certified death certificate
Order certified copies from the Georgia Department of Public Health. You will need at least two: one for the deed records and one for your personal files.
2
Record the death certificate with the county clerk
Take the certified copy to the Superior Court Clerk’s office in the county where the property is located. Georgia charges one flat fee to record it, under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-77(f)(1)(A)(i), no matter how many pages it runs. This updates the public deed record and establishes your sole ownership.
3
Update property tax records
Notify the county tax assessor’s office of the ownership change. This keeps your property tax billing accurate and preserves any homestead exemption already in place.
No probate case is filed. No executor is appointed. No court order is required. Compare that to what happens without JTWROS: a surviving spouse must open a probate case that takes about 13 months and costs an average of $14,700, before she can sell, refinance, or transfer the home.
How to Create a JTWROS Deed in Atlanta, Georgia
Adding JTWROS to a property requires recording a new deed. You cannot amend or annotate the existing one. If the person you are adding is your spouse, our guide to adding your spouse to a Georgia house deed walks through the same process step by step.
1
Pull the current deed from county records
Confirm who is listed as owner and how title is currently held. Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties all have online deed indexes. The legal description on your current deed must be carried over exactly to the new deed.
2
Prepare a new deed with exact JTWROS language
The new warranty deed or quitclaim deed must expressly name the owners using one of the four forms O.C.G.A. § 44-6-190(a)(2) accepts: “joint tenants,” “joint tenants and not as tenants in common,” “joint tenants with survivorship,” or taking “jointly with survivorship.” Subsection (a)(3) also accepts language essentially the same as one of those forms. There is no single required phrase, but wording that matches none of them creates a tenancy in common instead. An attorney should draft this deed to ensure the language and legal description are correct.
3
Complete the PT-61 transfer tax form
Georgia requires a PT-61 Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration for most deed transfers, filed through the Georgia eFiling system at erealestatetax.georgia.gov. Transfers between spouses may qualify for an exemption, but the form is still required. The clerk will reject a deed without it.
4
Sign, notarize, and record the deed
The grantor signs in front of a notary. Georgia charges one flat fee to record a deed under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-77(f)(1)(A)(i). It is one fee for the whole document, not a charge per page, and it is the same in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett. The deed is not legally effective until it is recorded in the county where the property is located.
5
Verify the recorded deed language
After recording, pull the recorded copy from the county’s online index and confirm the survivorship wording appears exactly as it was drafted. A transcription error can defeat the survivorship right entirely.
What JTWROS Does Not Cover
It does not help with incapacity. If one joint tenant has a stroke or develops dementia, the other owner cannot sell, refinance, or mortgage the property alone. Both signatures are legally required. Without a durable power of attorney or a funded revocable trust, the incapacitated person’s share becomes frozen. Unfreezing it requires a court-appointed conservatorship, which takes 4 to 6 months and costs $5,000 or more in court proceedings.
It does not protect from creditors. Each joint tenant’s share is reachable by their creditors during their lifetime. A judgment against one owner can result in a lien on that owner’s interest in the property.
It overrides your will. A JTWROS deed controls that specific property no matter what your will says. If your will names your children as beneficiaries of the house but the deed still says joint tenants with right of survivorship, the deed wins and your co-owner gets the property.
It only delays probate by one death. When the first joint tenant dies, the survivor owns the property outright as a sole owner with no survivorship protection in place. When the survivor dies, the property goes through probate unless they set up a new plan before death. Many people never do. The house ends up in probate one generation later. For the other ways joint tenancy can backfire, see Problems With Joint Tenancy in Georgia.
It only works for titled assets. JTWROS applies to real estate and financial accounts with formal title documents. It does not cover personal property, business interests, or intangible assets. A revocable trust handles all assets in a single coordinated plan. For a full picture of what a trust covers, see Benefits of a Trust in Georgia.
JTWROS vs. Transfer on Death Deed vs. Revocable Trust in Georgia
JTWROS works best for two people who co-own property and want it to pass automatically to each other at the first death. The survivorship is immediate. The tradeoff: it only works at death, offers no incapacity protection, and runs out after the first death unless the survivor adds a new arrangement.
Transfer on Death Deed works best for a single owner who wants to name beneficiaries to inherit a property at death without giving them current ownership rights. Georgia’s TOD deed statute (O.C.G.A. §§ 44-17-1 through 44-17-7, effective July 1, 2024) lets any property owner designate beneficiaries, revoke at any time, and keep full control while alive. For more, see Georgia Transfer on Death Deed.
Revocable Trust handles everything neither of the other two options covers: incapacity planning, coordination across all assets, distribution timing, and protection for heirs with special needs. For most Atlanta-area families with a home, retirement accounts, and investment accounts, a full trust plan is more efficient than patchwork deed changes. Learn what’s included in a revocable living trust, or see how trusts work after someone dies.
Who Should Use JTWROS in Atlanta?
JTWROS is the right tool in a narrow set of situations. Married couples with a single home and named beneficiaries on all their financial accounts sometimes use JTWROS as a low-cost deed change to close the one gap in their estate plan. If the durable power of attorney, healthcare directive, and account beneficiary designations are already in place, adding JTWROS to the deed is a reasonable step.
Many Atlanta estate planning attorneys also add JTWROS language to a deed at the same time they set up a revocable trust, as a fallback in case an asset is missed during trust funding.
JTWROS is the wrong tool if you want the property to pass to children (use a TOD deed or trust), if incapacity planning matters (use a trust), or if you have significant assets outside the home (use a trust). To learn more about how these tools compare, see Difference Between Will vs Trust in Georgia.
