When a Georgia county sells a property at a tax sale for more than the taxes, interest, costs and fees owed, the extra money is called excess funds (you may also see "overage" or "surplus"). The county doesn't keep it. Georgia law says it belongs to the people who had an interest in the property on the day of the sale, starting with the owner.
General information, not legal advice. GA Asset Recovery Advocates is not a law firm. Laws and county procedures change, so check the current rules with the office holding the funds or a Georgia attorney before you act. Last updated October 13, 2026.
Under O.C.G.A. § 48-4-5, excess funds are paid "to the owner or owners as their interests appear in the order of priority in which their interests exist." In practice that can include:
What counts is who held an interest on the date of the tax sale, not who holds it later. Georgia's courts have also held that a creditor who redeems the property afterward doesn't jump ahead of the others for the excess funds.
It's supposed to. The officer who ran the sale (usually the tax commissioner, or the sheriff in some counties such as Fulton) must mail a notice by first-class mail within 30 days of the sale to the record owner, each security deed holder, and others with a recorded interest. The notice lists the property, the sale date, the buyer, the sale price and the amount of excess funds.
The notice goes to the address in the county's records. If you moved, or the owner has died, it may never reach the right person. Many counties also post a list of excess funds on their tax commissioner or sheriff website, and checking it yourself is free.
Redemption and excess funds are separate. After a tax sale, the owner and others with an interest can usually buy the property back (redeem it) within 12 months of the sale, and afterward until the buyer serves a formal notice ending that right (O.C.G.A. § 48-4-40). The redemption price, which is the sale price plus a premium, goes to the tax sale buyer. It doesn't use up the excess funds, and the excess funds aren't paid to the buyer.
The county holds unclaimed excess funds for five years from the tax sale date. After that, the law requires it to send the money to the Georgia Department of Revenue. From then on, the funds can be released only by a court order from an interpleader case filed in superior court in the county where the sale happened. That's a court case, not a simple claim form, so it's much easier to claim within the five years.
Some counties, including Cobb, DeKalb, Chatham and Athens-Clarke, accept claims only from the claimant or a Georgia-licensed attorney, not from recovery companies or through a power of attorney. Others, such as Fulton and Gwinnett, allow a representative with the right paperwork. Check the county's rules before you file.
You can search Georgia's unclaimed property for free at gaclaims.unclaimedproperty.com. For tax sale excess funds older than five years, though, the Department of Revenue needs a superior court order from an interpleader case before it can release them.
Yes. You don't have to hire anyone to claim money that belongs to you, and the office holding the funds generally doesn't charge a fee to file. Some claims are simple. You may still pay for things like notarizing documents, getting certified records, or, in some counties, a title search.
Where claims go wrong is usually the paperwork. A form filled out for the wrong party, a missing notarization, an ID that doesn't match the records, or heirs who haven't documented their relationship can send a claim back to the start. If the holder isn't sure who is entitled, it can ask a superior court to decide, and that adds months.
Our job is to help you get the claim right the first time, so you don't lose time to delays from the wrong process or the wrong documents. We can't promise that a claim will be approved or how much will be paid; those decisions belong to the office or court holding the funds. What we do:
Our fee is contingency only. There is no upfront cost. Our fee is a percentage of what is recovered, agreed with you in writing before any work starts, and if nothing is recovered you owe us nothing.
Letters about surplus money can be legitimate, but scammers copy them. Before you sign anything with anyone, including us:
Think you may be owed money from a Georgia sale?
Call us at (404) 999-3532 or email Support@GaAssetRecoveryAdvocates.com. There is no upfront cost, and we'll tell you honestly whether you'd be better off filing yourself.
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