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IMPORTANT NOTICES

Clarke County Probate Court is now accepting credit and debit cards.  A service fee of the higher of 3.5% or $2.95 will be applied to all credit or debit card purchases.  We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. Customers may avoid this extra fee by paying with cash, check, or money order.

Per Senate Bill 232 (Effective January 1, 2025), all filings with the Probate Court made after January 1, 2025, shall be subject to the updated statutory fee schedule. This bill was intended to simplify the former fee schedule and make it easier for filers to determine the correct filing fee. The web-site has been updated with the new statutory fees.

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Responsibilities

The Probate Court of Clarke County handles a variety of matters, including guardianships of minors and incapacitated adults, cases involving decedent’s estates, and mental health evaluations and/or treatment, as well as other miscellaneous types of cases such as birth certificate amendments, boundary line disputes, and certain cases concerning trusts. Additionally, applications for marriage and weapons carry licenses are processed in Probate Court. We DO NOT ACCEPT and process marriage and weapons carry license applications before 9:00 am or after 3:00 pm. Acceptable payment is by cash, check, money order, credit card or debit card.

The Probate Court also monitors the handling of funds by many fiduciaries, for example, conservators of the property of a minor or incapacitated adult and any estate administrators who have not been relieved by the heirs of accounting to the court. This court does not handle traffic cases or probation for criminal sentences. While we do issue marriage licenses, we generally do not perform marriage ceremonies.