Estate Planning in Marietta: What Cobb County Families Should Have in Place

An estate planning attorney in Marietta drafts and executes the documents that decide who speaks for you if you cannot speak for yourself, and who receives your property when you die: a will, a financial power of attorney, an advance directive for health care, and sometimes a trust. Signed correctly under Georgia law, they spare your family months at 32 Waddell Street.

 

That address is the Cobb County Probate Court. It sits in downtown Marietta, about a five-minute walk from the Square, and it is where your estate goes if you leave the decisions to the State of Georgia instead of making them yourself.

 

What an Estate Planning Attorney in Marietta Actually Does

 

Most of the work is not drafting. Drafting is the last third.

 

The first conversation is about people and property. Who would you trust to sign a mortgage payoff on your behalf? Who would tell a doctor what you'd want? Is the house titled jointly or in one name? Is there a business, a second property in another county, a child from a first marriage, a beneficiary who cannot manage money well? Those answers determine which documents you need, and there is no form on the internet that asks them.

 

The second part is execution. Georgia is particular about signing formalities, and a document that fails them is not a document. Under O.C.G.A. § 53-4-20, a will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and attested and subscribed in the testator's presence by two or more competent witnesses. A financial power of attorney under Georgia's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 6B) needs the principal's signature, at least one witness, and a notary. The Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care (O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapter 32) needs two witnesses and no notary at all.

 

Three documents, three different signing rules. That is the single most common reason a homemade plan fails at the exact moment a family needs it.

 

The Four Documents Behind Most Marietta Estate Plans

 

A will. Names your executor, directs who receives what, and can nominate a guardian for minor children. It does not avoid probate. It gives the Cobb County Probate Court instructions instead of leaving the court to apply a statute.

 

A financial power of attorney. Lets someone pay your bills, deal with your bank, and sign for you while you are living but unable to act. Without one, the alternative is a conservatorship petition: a court case, with a hearing and a bond.

 

An advance directive for health care. Combines a health care agent and your treatment wishes in one Georgia form. Hospitals in Cobb County ask for it by name.

 

A trust, when the facts call for one. Not everyone needs a revocable living trust. Families who tend to benefit have property in more than one state, a beneficiary with special needs, a blended family, or a strong preference to keep the transfer out of the public record. If none of that applies to you, an attorney should tell you so.

 

What Happens in Cobb County Probate Court Without a Plan

 

Georgia's intestacy statute, O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1, distributes your property when there is no valid will. A surviving spouse shares equally with the children, except that the spouse's share cannot fall below one-third. So a Marietta widow with three children takes a third, and the children split the rest, regardless of whose income bought the house or who has been paying the taxes on it. Georgia's year's support provision (O.C.G.A. §§ 53-3-1 and 53-3-5) can adjust that outcome for a surviving spouse or minor children, but it takes its own petition, its own filing, and its own notice to the heirs.

 

Here are the numbers people don't expect. In Cobb County, the Petition to Probate Will in Solemn Form runs $202.00, and the court requires notice to interested parties by certified mail at $8.50 per person or entity entitled to notice. A large family with scattered heirs adds up quickly. The court is open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and filings go to 32 Waddell Street, Marietta, GA 30090.

Filing fees are the cheap part. The expensive part is the calendar. Petitions get returned for incomplete heir lists, missing birthdates, or a legal description that won't pass title, and each return costs weeks while a house sits unsold and a bank account sits frozen. We have written separately about how Cobb County Probate Court handles an estate from filing through Letters.

 

How the Process Runs, Start to Finish

1. Consultation. An attorney, not a coordinator, asks about your family, your property, and what you want to happen.
2. Information gathering. Deeds, account titling, beneficiary designations, business documents, prior wills.
3. Decisions. Executor, agent under power of attorney, health care agent, guardians, distribution.
4. Drafting. Documents built around the answers, in language you can read without a dictionary.
5. Review. You read the draft with the attorney, and revisions happen before anyone signs.
6. Signing. Executed with the witnesses and notary Georgia requires for each document.
7. Funding and follow-through. If a trust is involved, deeds get recorded with the Cobb County Superior Court Clerk and beneficiary designations get updated. A trust nobody funded is an expensive binder.

Most plans move from first meeting to signing in a few weeks. It depends on how quickly the deeds and account information come together, and on whether decisions about guardians take a while, sometimes they should.

 

Which Perigon Office Serves Marietta

 

Perigon Legal Services is a faith-founded Georgia firm serving Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Marietta clients typically work with our Powers Ferry office in East Cobb or our Kennesaw office, both in or near Cobb County.

 

What we mean by Values in Practice is specific rather than aspirational: an attorney is in the room for the substantive conversations, documents get explained in plain language before you sign them, and when we say we'll send something on Thursday, it goes out Thursday. Planning your estate is an act of care and stewardship for the people who will have to sort things out later. It deserves that kind of follow-through.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Do I need an estate planning attorney in Marietta, or can I use an online form? Online forms produce documents; they do not confirm those documents were executed the way Georgia requires. A will needs two competent witnesses who sign in your presence under O.C.G.A. § 53-4-20, a financial power of attorney needs a witness and a notary, and a Georgia advance directive needs two witnesses. Forms also cannot tell you whether your house is titled in a way that defeats what your will says.

Where is estate planning and probate handled for Marietta residents? Cobb County Probate Court, at 32 Waddell Street, Marietta, GA 30090, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Estate planning documents themselves are not filed with the court during your lifetime. The court becomes involved after death, or in a guardianship or conservatorship matter.

What happens in Georgia if I die without a will? O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1 controls. A surviving spouse shares equally with the children, and the spouse's share cannot be less than one-third. A spouse or minor children may also petition for year's support under O.C.G.A. § 53-3-1, which provides property for their support for the twelve months following death and takes priority over most other claims.

How much does it cost to probate a will in Cobb County? The Petition to Probate Will in Solemn Form is $202.00 in Cobb County, plus $8.50 for each interested party who must be served notice by certified mail. Those are court costs only, separate from attorney fees, bond, appraisals, or the cost of selling real property.

Does a will avoid probate in Georgia? No. A will directs the probate process; it does not replace it. Avoiding probate for a particular asset generally requires different tools: a funded revocable trust, joint titling, or a valid beneficiary designation. Which of those fits depends on your property and your family.

 

This post is general information about Georgia law, not legal advice. The right answer depends on your specific facts and on Georgia law as it applies to them. To talk through your situation with a Perigon attorney, reach out to our Powers Ferry or Kennesaw office.