How long does a lien last on a property in Georgia?

It depends on the kind. A judgment goes dormant after seven years if nobody acts on it (O.C.G.A. § 9-12-60) and can be revived for three more (O.C.G.A. § 9-12-61). Unpaid property tax does not expire on its own and stays the strongest claim on the house. A security deed stays on the record until the lender cancels it, even if the loan was paid off decades ago.

What is an unreleased mortgage, and how do I get rid of it?

It is a loan that was paid off but never marked paid in the county record. Georgia uses a security deed, so the lender held legal title until payoff and is supposed to record a cancellation afterward. A lender paid in full is supposed to cancel within 60 days (O.C.G.A. § 44-14-3) and can be liable if it does not. The hard part is usually finding who holds the loan now after the original bank was sold.

Do I inherit my parent's debts with the house?

You do not personally owe their unsecured debts. But a lien recorded against the house rides with the house, not the person. So the claim is still against the property you inherited. It does not mean anyone takes the house tomorrow. It means you cannot sell clean until it is dealt with.

Is an old judgment against a deceased owner still enforceable?

Often not, but check the date rather than guessing. Georgia judgments go dormant at seven years without action, with a three-year revival window after that. A creditor who kept it alive on the general execution docket resets what you are looking at. Even an expired judgment usually has to be addressed on paper before a title company will insure.

How do I find out what liens are on an inherited house in Georgia?

Start with the clerk of superior court in the county where the house sits. Deeds, security deeds, cancellations, and liens are recorded there, and most Georgia counties let you search online. Then call the county tax commissioner for the payoff on the parcel. Build a list of what is recorded, what it is for, and what year — those three columns tell you which claims are dead and which are live.

Can I sell an inherited house with liens still on it?

Not easily to a buyer with a mortgage, because their title company will require the liens cleared or paid at closing. You can sell your own share to a cash buyer who takes the lien work on. We do that, and we price from what the record actually shows.

Heir Buyouts. Georgia.

There’s an old lien on the inherited house. Is it still good?

Maybe not. In Georgia, some liens die on a clock and some sit forever. A paid-off loan the lender never cancelled is usually easy to kill. A judgment goes dormant after seven years. Property tax does not go away on its own. Here is how to tell which one you have.

Who this is for

Maybe a title search turned up a mortgage from 1996 on a house that has been paid off for decades.

Maybe there is a judgment against your late father, and you have no idea what it was for.

Maybe you found a tax lien and you are afraid to ask how big it is.

If any of this sounds like you, this page is for you. It sorts the old claims that are already dead from the ones that will still bite.

First, what a lien does to your house

A lien is a claim against the property for a debt. It rides along with the house, not the person. That is the part that surprises families.

So when someone dies, their debts do not just vanish. If a claim was recorded against the house, it is still recorded against the house. The heirs inherit the problem along with the roof.

It does not mean anyone is coming to take the place tomorrow. It means you cannot sell clean until it is dealt with.

The paid-off loan that was never cancelled

This is the most common one, and the best news on this page.

Georgia does home loans with a security deed. When you borrow, the lender holds legal title to the house until you pay them back. When you pay them off, they are supposed to file a cancellation so the record shows it.

Plenty of times nobody does. The loan is gone. The paperwork is not.

Georgia gives you a lever. A lender that has been paid in full is supposed to cancel it in the record within 60 days. (O.C.G.A. § 44-14-3.) A lender that ignores that can be on the hook for what it costs you.

The real work is not the law. It is finding who holds the loan now, after the original bank was bought twice and the servicer changed three times. That hunt is the whole job, and it is why these sit for decades.

The old judgment

Someone sued a past owner and won. They recorded the judgment, and now it shows against the house.

Georgia puts a clock on these. A judgment goes dormant after seven years if nobody acts to keep it alive. (O.C.G.A. § 9-12-60.) Once dormant, it can be revived for three more years. (O.C.G.A. § 9-12-61.) After that window closes, it should not stand in your way.

So the date matters more than the dollar amount. A judgment from 2004 that nobody touched is a different animal than one from last year.

Do not eyeball this and assume. A creditor who kept it alive on the docket resets what you are looking at, and a title company will want it addressed on paper either way.

Property tax is the one that does not sleep

Unpaid property tax is not like the other two. It does not go dormant. It does not get forgotten. The county has the strongest claim on the list and the most reliable process for using it.

Unpaid tax turns into a recorded claim, and the county can eventually sell the house to collect. If that already happened, there is a clock running on getting it back. We walk through all of it in the Georgia tax sale guide.

If you only chase one item on your title, chase this one. And if the house already has back taxes piling up, start there.

How to find out what is actually on your house

You can do a lot of this yourself, free.

Start at the county clerk of superior court. That is where deeds get recorded. Liens and cancellations too. Most Georgia counties let you search it online, and there is also a statewide search that covers every county.

Then call the county tax commissioner and ask for the payoff on the parcel. They will tell you. That number is the one that matters most.

What you are building is a list: what is recorded, what it is for, and what year. With those three columns you can tell dead claims from live ones.

Your realistic options

Chase the releases yourself. Cheapest by far. For an old paid-off loan, you write the lender, prove payoff, and ask for a cancellation. Slow and annoying, but free if you have the time and the old paperwork.

Hire a lawyer to clean it up. Faster, and the right call when there is real equity. A real estate attorney can demand cancellations, deal with a creditor, and get a corrective filing recorded.

Quiet title. When the liens are tangled up with a title nobody can untangle, a judge sorts it out at once. Strongest and slowest. See quiet title for heir property.

Sell your share with the liens still on it. That is us. You do not chase anyone. We take the record work on after we buy, and we price it knowing what is there. It is one route through selling a house with a cloud on title.

What we do

We buy one heir’s share of an inherited house in Georgia, liens and all.

Old claims are ordinary work for us. We pull the record, sort the dead from the live, and price from what we find. You are not asked to fix anything first or front any money.

You will get less than a clean sale. That is the trade for not doing any of this yourself.

Why we are safe to call

We buy property. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.

Here is the honest version. If your only problem is one old paid-off loan, you may not need us at all. That is often a letter and some patience, and the house sells clean on the open market for more. We will say so on the call. Call us when the pile is deep enough that chasing it yourself is not realistic.