The default is tenancy in common, not survivorship
Under O.C.G.A. § 44-6-190, any deed naming two or more people is construed as creating a tenancy in common — each owner holds a separate, transferable share, and that share goes through probate at death — unless the deed expressly refers to the owners as "joint tenants," "joint tenants and not as tenants in common," or "joint tenants with survivorship," or uses essentially the same wording. A deed that simply reads "to John Smith and Mary Smith" creates a tenancy in common. Nothing about that wording, by itself, avoids probate for either owner's share.
A joint tenant can sever it alone, without telling anyone
Even when a deed does use the right survivorship language, the protection isn't permanent. Section 44-6-190 lets any single joint tenant record an instrument transferring their own interest — a deed, a mortgage that results in a transfer, a court-ordered sale — and that recording severs the joint tenancy as to that owner's share, converting it back to a tenancy in common. The other owner doesn't have to consent, or even know in advance. The one exception: if every joint tenant joins in the same recorded transfer together, no severance happens.
Divorce can undo it by affidavit
If a married couple holds title as joint tenants with survivorship and later divorces, Georgia gives either former spouse a way to clear the record: filing an affidavit with the clerk of superior court in the county where the property sits, stating the parties are divorced or the marriage was annulled. That affidavit affects the survivorship interest going forward, unless the final divorce or annulment decree already addressed the property differently.
Bank accounts run on the opposite default
Real estate and bank accounts in Georgia are governed by entirely different statutes, with opposite starting assumptions. A joint bank account falls under the state's Multiple-Party Accounts law, O.C.G.A. § 7-1-813, which presumes the surviving owner takes the funds automatically — unless there's clear and convincing evidence the account holders intended something else at the time they opened it. So the same word, "joint," points toward probate for a house and away from probate for a bank account, depending entirely on which asset it's attached to. See our guide to Georgia beneficiary and P.O.D. accounts for how that plays out with other account types.
A newer alternative: the transfer-on-death deed
Since July 1, 2024, a Georgia property owner doesn't have to rely on getting the joint-tenancy wording exactly right at all. A transfer-on-death deed under O.C.G.A. § 44-17-1 et seq. names a beneficiary who receives the property automatically at death, while the owner keeps sole control — and can revoke it — during life.