Estates guide / Step 5

The Georgia Estate Inventory and Annual Return Guide

A step-by-step walk through the two filings that trip up most executors and administrators: the inventory, and the annual return you owe every year after.

Your deadlines, worked out from the date you qualify
What goes in each blank of an inventory, and how to value it
A bookkeeping system that makes every annual return a short job
Who to mail it to, and how to prove you did

This guide explains the process so you can prepare your own filings. It does not complete your forms for you and it cannot answer questions about your estate.

What is inside

Ten parts, in the order you will need them.

1
Know your dates
Creditor notice, inventory and every annual return, counted from the date you qualify.
2
Do you have to file at all?
When the law lets the court or the heirs excuse the filing, and how to ask.
3
Prepare the inventory
What counts as estate property, how to value it, and where each item goes.
4
Mail the inventory
Who must receive a copy and what to file with the court afterwards.
5
Keep the books from day one
A simple ledger and bank reconciliation, so the return writes itself.
6
Prepare the annual return
The accounting, the updated inventory, and the proof that backs them up.
7
Mail the return, then file proof
Service on the people entitled to see it, and the certificate that shows it.
8
What happens next
Objections, clerk review, and what to do if the court sends a notice.
9
Common mistakes
The errors that cause rejected filings, late returns and unhappy heirs.
10
When to stop and get a lawyer
The warning signs that mean this is no longer a do-it-yourself job.

See how it explains a form

Every blank on the sample inventory is numbered. In the margin you see who or what goes there, and the mistakes people make most often. The guide works the same way.

Open the full sample, with a fictional estate →

The worksheet workbook

One Excel file you keep for the life of the estate. Enter the date you qualified once and it fills in the rest.

Dates – every deadline, calculated for you
Inventory – assets with date-of-death values
Ledger – receipts and disbursements, one line each
Annual return – bank reconciliation that checks your math
Mailing log – who you sent what, and when

Who this is for

An executor or administrator of a Georgia estate who wants to do the paperwork themselves
An estate with ordinary assets: a home, bank accounts, a vehicle, personal belongings
Someone who has been told to file an inventory or annual return and does not know where to start

Not for you if

You are a conservator or guardian. Those filings follow different rules. A guide for them is planned.
The estate owes more than it owns, or a creditor is suing it.
Someone is challenging the will or your appointment.
The estate owns a business, farmland or property in another state.
You want someone to prepare the filings for you or answer questions about your case.

Get your dates and your worksheets today

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Buy the estate guide