Georgia tax sale excess funds: who gets the money left over?

At a tax sale the house goes to the highest bid, and bids often run well past the taxes. The county takes out the taxes, its costs, and the cost of the sale. What is left over is called excess funds, or surplus.

That money does not belong to the county, and it does not go to the bidder. Georgia law says it goes to the people who held a stake in the house at the time of the sale.

Say a house sold for $90,000, and the taxes and costs were $8,000. If the bank is owed $50,000 on a loan, the bank is paid that first.

If the owner has passed, the owner's share can pass to the family. For a family that lost the house, it can be the one thing left to claim.

Three kinds of people can claim. First is the owner on the county's books on the day of the sale. Then comes any lender with a loan filed on the house, and anyone else with a lien or stake on file. The money is paid out in order of rank, so a mortgage or other lien is paid before the owner gets what is left.

That is the fear most owners have, and it is often true: if the house had a large loan, the lender may take most of the money. If the loan was small or paid off, the owner may get most of it. Ask the lender for a payoff so you know which case you are in.

If the owner has passed, some counties let an heir file. Chatham County names heirs and beneficiaries of a deceased owner on its list. Many counties will want court papers that show who speaks for the estate.

Within 30 days of the sale, the office that ran it has to mail a letter to each person with a stake. The letter names the house, the sale date, the bidder and the bidder's address, the price, and the amount left over.

The letter goes to the address the county has on file. If you moved, or the owner has passed, it may be sitting in the wrong mailbox. You don't need the letter to file, so call the tax office and ask whether money is being held.

Each county has its own form, and the steps look much the same across the state.

The rules on who may file, and how, change from one county to the next. These rules come from each county's own site, as of September 2026.

If two claims don't agree, the county can hand the money to a judge in superior court to sort out. The court decides who is paid and in what order. The court costs and lawyer fees for that case come out of the money first, so a family fight shrinks every share.

The county holds the money for five years from the sale date. After that, it goes to the Georgia Department of Revenue, and getting it back from there takes a court order. If you think money was left from an old sale, ask now.

After a sale, letters often come from firms that offer to claim the money for a share of it, sometimes a large one. You can file yourself. Gwinnett's own site says you do not have to pay, or be represented by, anyone to claim excess funds. DeKalb and Chatham won't deal with a finder holding your power of attorney at all.

If you want help, a lawyer who charges a set fee is a safer first call than a firm that takes a cut. Read any deal twice before you sign away part of the money.

Claiming the money and buying the house back are two different things. If the sale was recent, you may still be able to get the house itself back, which may be worth more to you than the surplus.

We can check the county's sale records for free and tell you whether a sale on your family's house left money behind and which office holds it. We take no share of excess funds. If the house can still be bought back and you would rather sell it, we can talk about buying it.