Date of Death Appraisals for Georgia Probate Estates

When a Georgia estate includes a house or land, the personal representative sooner or later needs a number for it. The probate inventory asks for one. The heirs want one before they divide the property or one of them buys out the others. And the value on the date of death becomes the starting point for tax when the property is eventually sold.

This post covers the Georgia side: what the personal representative has to file, when a formal date of death appraisal is worth ordering, and what it should show. The federal estate tax return is a separate subject, which I cover in real estate appraisals for IRS Form 706.

Key Takeaways

• The inventory is due within six months. Under O.C.G.A. 53-7-30, the personal representative files an inventory with the probate court and mails a copy to the beneficiaries or heirs within six months after qualifying. The court can extend that for good cause.
• It can be waived. A will can dispense with the inventory, and the beneficiaries or heirs can consent to relieve the personal representative of it.
• The inventory statute does not call for a formal appraisal. The inventory must be a true, verified statement of the property. Whether to support the real estate value with an appraisal is a judgment call.
• Georgia has no estate tax. It ended on July 1, 2014.
• The date of death value sets the heirs' basis. Under Section 1014 of the Internal Revenue Code, inherited property generally takes a basis equal to its fair market value on the date of death, whether or not a federal estate tax return is filed.

What the Georgia inventory requires

O.C.G.A. 53-7-30 says that, unless the will provides otherwise or the personal representative has been relieved of the duty, the personal representative must:

1. Prepare an inventory of all the decedent's property.
2. File it with the probate court.
3. Mail a copy by first-class mail to the beneficiaries of a will, or to the heirs if there is no will.
4. Do all of this within six months after qualifying as personal representative. The probate court may extend the time for good cause.

The inventory must state that it is a true statement of all the property within the personal representative's knowledge, and it is verified the same way as a petition in the probate court. If there is more than one personal representative, O.C.G.A. 53-7-31 has them make the inventory jointly.

When no inventory is required

Two provisions can remove the duty:

• The will. Under O.C.G.A. 53-7-33, a testator may dispense with the inventory, as long as that does not injure creditors or anyone other than the beneficiaries.
• The family. Under O.C.G.A. 53-7-32, any beneficiary or heir may waive receiving a copy, in a signed writing. By unanimous written consent, the beneficiaries or heirs may also authorize the probate court to relieve the personal representative of making the inventory at all.

Your probate attorney will know which applies to your estate.

Does the inventory need an appraisal?

The inventory statute does not call for one. O.C.G.A. 53-7-30 requires a true, verified statement of the decedent's property, and the Code commentary to that section notes that the former appraisement provisions were repealed. The probate court's form is where the numbers go: the Fulton County Probate Court's inventory form, for example, lists each parcel of real estate with an "approximate value."

That leaves the personal representative to decide how to arrive at the value of the real estate. A formal date of death appraisal is worth considering when:

• The heirs will divide the property unevenly, or one heir will buy out the others. The value is the whole negotiation.
• Someone may object. An heir who questions the personal representative's numbers is easier to answer with a report than with an estimate.
• The property will be sold soon. The date of death value sets the basis the sale is measured against, as explained below.
• The estate may be large enough for a federal return, or the family is filing one to elect portability for a surviving spouse.
• The property is hard to value. Acreage, rural land, a home in poor condition, or anything without clear comparable sales.

When none of those apply, an appraisal may be more than the estate needs, and I would rather say so than sell one.

Georgia has no estate tax

O.C.G.A. 48-12-1 provides that on and after July 1, 2014, Georgia levies no estate tax and requires no state estate tax return. For a Georgia estate, the only estate tax question is federal. For decedents dying in 2026, the IRS requires Form 706 when the gross estate, plus adjusted taxable gifts and specific exemption, exceeds $15,000,000, or when the executor elects portability.

Why the date of death value matters later: basis

Under Section 1014(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, the basis of property acquired from a decedent is generally its fair market value at the date of death. Nothing in that rule depends on filing an estate tax return. It applies to a modest Georgia estate just as it does to a taxable one.

The practical effect is that when the heirs sell, their taxable gain is generally measured from the date of death value rather than from what the decedent originally paid. The stepped-up basis calculator shows how much that can matter with your own numbers.

The basis is only as good as the evidence behind it. A value documented as of the date of death, while the sales evidence is fresh, is easier to defend than a number reconstructed years later. Confirm the tax treatment of your situation with a CPA.

What a date of death appraisal should show

• The right effective date. The date of death, stated in the report. The appraisal is retrospective: the analysis reflects the market as it stood on that date, even if the report is written months later.
• The condition on that date. If the house has been cleaned out, repaired, or has deteriorated since, the report should explain how the condition on the date of death was established.
• Support a skeptical reader can follow. The comparable sales, the adjustments, and the reasoning, so that an heir, an attorney, or a tax examiner can trace the conclusion.
• The purpose and users. An estate report should say who it is for, such as the personal representative and the estate's attorney and tax preparer, and what it will be used for.

My estate and date of death appraisal service page explains how I scope these assignments.

Choosing who prepares it

Heirs read these reports. So does the probate court, and sometimes an attorney for an heir who is unhappy with the split. A filled-in form with a number at the bottom gives that heir nothing to be persuaded by and gives the personal representative nothing to stand on. A narrative report lays out which sales were used, what was adjusted and why, and how the condition of the house on the date of death was established, so the family can follow the reasoning instead of being asked to trust it. Ask any appraiser you call which of the two the estate would receive.

Then ask what is worth asking of anyone:

• How many date of death assignments have they handled?
• Have they been deposed or testified?
• Will they inspect the property themselves?
• What effective date will the report carry, and why?
• Does the fee depend in any way on the conclusion? It should not, and the answer should come back immediately.

Ask me too. I have been in the field since 1997, and much of that time went to reading other appraisers' work rather than writing my own: Chief Review Appraiser at two national appraisal management companies, the final technical authority there on disputed values, a wholesale appraisal desk I built and ran at 1,700 orders a year, appraisal management operations, FHA field audits, litigation. When I inspect, I go through the house with whoever is there rather than photographing it and leaving, so the personal representative comes away understanding what I saw and how it bears on a value the heirs may be looking at years from now.

FAQs: Date of Death Appraisals in Georgia

How long does a Georgia personal representative have to file the inventory?

Six months after qualification, under O.C.G.A. 53-7-30, unless the probate court extends the time for good cause or the duty has been removed by the will or by the heirs' or beneficiaries' consent.

Can the appraisal be done months after the death?

Yes. A retrospective appraisal values the property as of the date of death, using the market evidence from around that date, even when the report is prepared later.

Is the county tax assessment good enough for the inventory?

The inventory statute does not prescribe how the personal representative values real estate. Keep in mind that a county's value is set as of January 1 of a tax year for property tax purposes, not as of the date of death. Whether it is good enough depends on how much rides on the number.

Does the estate have to file a federal estate tax return to get the stepped-up basis?

No. Section 1014 sets the basis at fair market value at the date of death without requiring a return. The federal return has its own filing thresholds and reasons, covered in the Form 706 post.