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EVICTION HELP

Eviction papers in Georgia: free help

Free, and based on the court's and the legislature's own sources. No account, no payment.

Your deadline

File an answer with the Magistrate Court within 7 days after the day you were served. Do not count the day you were served; the 7th day after it is the last day. You can answer in writing (the court's Dispossessory Answer form, MAG 30-03) or by telling the clerk your answer in person, and the clerk writes it down. Every adult named as a defendant must file their own answer. Put every defense and any claim against the landlord in your answer. If your summons states a last day to answer, go by the earlier of that date and the 7th day. If the 7th day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the law lets you answer on the next day the court is open, but answer earlier if you can. If you answer, the court sets a hearing date.

the last day to answer, if your summons states one (Georgia law says the summons must state it; the statewide form instead says "on or before the seventh (7th) day after the date of service")
The day they were handed to you, left at your home, posted, or arrived in the mail.
The rule: within seven days from the date of the actual service

The rule's own words: “shall command and require the tenant to answer either orally or in writing within seven days from the date of the actual service unless the seventh day is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday, in which case the answer may be made on the next day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday”

Source: O.C.G.A. 44-7-51(b) (text unchanged by Act 255 of 2025, which revised subsection (a) only); Council of Magistrate Court Judges form MAG 30-02 (summons)

If you do not answer or appear

If you do not answer in time, the court can issue a writ of possession and a judgment against you without a hearing. Georgia Legal Aid says a default judgment cannot be appealed.

Source: Council of Magistrate Court Judges form MAG 30-02 (summons)

Cost to answer

No official statewide statement on an answer fee was found. In Fulton County, filing the answer on the clerk's public computers is free and filing from anywhere else (online) costs a fee. Ask your county's magistrate court clerk; file at the courthouse if cost is a problem.

Source: Magistrate Court of Fulton County, Tenant Pamphlet (court publication, file dated 2022-02-25)

What your papers are called

Dispossessory Affidavit (often called a dispossessory warrant) with a Summons, statewide form MAG 30-02. The summons tells the tenant to answer in writing or orally at the Magistrate Court. Magistrate Court of the county where the rental property is (dispossessory proceeding).

Free help

Are you the landlord?

Whether a company landlord needs a lawyer depends on the court and the case.

In magistrate court a company landlord does not need a lawyer: it may designate an officer or full-time employee to file and present the case, with a sworn affidavit or other proof of the job (Uniform Magistrate Court Rule 31). The Council of Magistrate Court Judges' form MAG 11-02 makes that designation for a corporation or a limited liability company. An owner's agent may also make the dispossessory affidavit that starts the case (44-7-50(c)). On appeal to state or superior court, whether a non-lawyer may appear for a company is not confirmed here; plan on a lawyer.

Source: Uniform Magistrate Court Rule 31 (2023 edition); Council of Magistrate Court Judges form MAG 11-02 (which cites O.C.G.A. 15-10-43(i); the Code text sits behind a CAPTCHA and was not read); O.C.G.A. 44-7-50(c) (as amended by Act 392, H.B. 404, 2024)

The court's landlord form: Dispossessory Affidavit (with Summons) (MAG 30-02)

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Sources read on 2026-10-06.