What still needs doing

Notify close family

People should hear it from you, not from a feed.

Contact the funeral home

They start the death certificate. Everything else waits on that paper.

Find the original will

Georgia wants the original. A copy is a fight. You cannot act as executor until the county court says so.

Notify the last employer and any pension

Final paycheck, life insurance through work, 401(k), TRS, and pension all sit here.

Notify banks and credit unions

Accounts freeze. Automatic bills bounce. Joint accounts work differently than individual ones.

Start life insurance claims

Claims are slow. Starting late makes them slower.

Stop health insurance and Medicare

Premiums keep drafting. Pharmacies keep filling.

Collect certified death certificates

Banks, insurers, and the county Probate Court will not take a photocopy.

Pick the Georgia path

The county court will not guess for you. The wrong petition wastes a filing fee and a month.

File the original will with the county Probate Court

In Georgia the will is filed in the county where they lived, even before you have Letters.

Petition to probate the will in solemn form (GPCSF 5)

Until the court issues Letters Testamentary, most banks will not take your word.

Collect Letters Testamentary

This is the paper that proves you may act. Institutions keep a copy.

Petition for Letters of Administration (GPCSF 3)

No will, or the named executor cannot serve. Someone still has to be in charge.

Petition for no administration necessary (GPCSF 9)

If there is no will, every heir agrees, and there are no unpaid debts, Georgia will let you skip a full administration.

Year’s support for a spouse or minor children (GPCSF 10)

This Georgia device can outrank creditors and even the will. The clock is 24 months from death.

Ask the bank about the $15,000 intestate deposit path

O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239 lets a bank pay up to $15,000 of an intestate depositor’s funds to close family. It does not move the house.

Talk to a Georgia probate lawyer — or the clerk — before you guess

Small paths exist. Guessing between them is expensive. A 20-minute clerk question beats a rejected petition.

Place a deceased alert with the credit bureaus

Identity theft after a death is common and ugly to unwind.

Decide what stays on at the house

Georgia Power, gas, and water still have to be in someone’s name. An empty house still needs enough to keep pipes and a security light.

Cancel subscriptions and memberships

They are small, they auto-renew, and they are a paper trail of a life that has ended.

Handle the car through Georgia DOR

An untransferred title is a ticket and a liability.

Take over digital accounts

Email is how banks, insurers, and scammers will all try to reach them.

Get an EIN and tell the IRS you are the fiduciary

The estate is its own taxpayer. Commingling estate money with yours is how you get personally stuck.

Inventory within six months of Letters — unless the will waived it

O.C.G.A. § 53-7-30. Many Georgia wills relieve the executor from inventory and returns. If yours did not, the clock starts when Letters issue.

Push open insurance and benefit claims

Nothing moves unless you call. Calendar a follow-up every two weeks.

Retitle the house in Superior Court deed records

Georgia real estate does not move on a small-estate form. Property left in a dead person’s name cannot be sold cleanly.

File the final personal tax return

The last Form 1040 is due the year after death, on the normal April deadline. Georgia has no estate tax on top of that.

Work the medical bills

Hospitals bill late and they bill wrong. Estates still have to answer.

Keep the house insured

A vacancy clause can void the policy after 30–60 days empty.

Confirm every beneficiary designation

Life insurance, 401(k), and TOD accounts skip the will. The form on file wins.

Prepare a final accounting and get signed receipts

This is how you keep the family. Numbers in the open, no surprises.

Petition for discharge (GPCSF 33)

The job is not done until the court lets you out. Discharge is how you stop being personally on the hook.

Keep the records

A late bill, a tax notice, or a sibling question will arrive after you think you are finished.