Montgomery Probate Court Scope
Montgomery County Probate Court is the local court for probate and administration of estates for county residents. The official county Probate Court page also places marriage licenses, vital records, firearms licenses, guardianships of minors and incapacitated adults, and miscellaneous probate duties in this office. It is not just an estate counter. It also handles misdemeanor traffic citations and game and fish violations assigned to the Probate Court calendar.
The Probate Court is a court of record. The county page states that filed documents must be recorded in minute books and kept permanently available to the public. That matters for older Montgomery County probate records because a file may be a paper case, a bound minute-book entry, or a counter-held record rather than a public online result.
Probate Court also has a traffic role that should not be missed. Montgomery County research states that Probate traffic court is held on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:00 AM, and people who must appear are told to arrive before 9:45 AM, dress appropriately, and check in with the clerk. Payable citations may use EZCourtPay or the phone payment line when the citation does not require an appearance.
The official Montgomery County Probate Court page is the source for the court's local jurisdiction, traffic schedule, EZCourtPay instructions, judge and staff names, address, phone, and hours.
The official page confirms that probate records, traffic citations, marriage licenses, vital records, guardianships, and firearms licenses are routed through this same Montgomery County office.
Montgomery Probate Terms
Probate filings use words that are easy to confuse. These definitions keep Montgomery County probate records clear when a person is reading a petition, letters, inventory, or guardianship order.
- Testator
- The person who made a will.
- Executor
- The person named in a will to carry out estate duties after appointment by the court.
- Intestate
- A death with no valid will found or admitted to probate.
- Guardianship
- Court authority over personal care or legal decisions for a minor or incapacitated adult.
- Conservatorship
- Court authority over another person's property, funds, or financial affairs.
Some terms point to public file material, while others may point to restricted records. Guardianship and conservatorship files can include medical, physician, evaluation, minor, or financial details that are not handled like a routine estate docket.
Search Montgomery Probate Records
No official Montgomery County online probate case search was located in the research. The working access path is the Probate Court counter, phone, mail, and case-file request process. A requester should identify whether the need is an estate file, will, guardianship, conservatorship, marriage record, vital record, firearms license record, or Probate Court traffic matter before contacting the court.
Because there is no confirmed statewide Georgia probate case-search portal for Montgomery filings, the safest search method is to ask the Probate Court how its current and historical records are indexed. Staff may need a name, date range, and file type to decide whether to check a modern case file, a minute book, a marriage record, a traffic citation file, or another Probate Court record set.
- Start with the name of the decedent, ward, applicant, or citation holder. Add the case number if it is known.
- Call or visit Montgomery County Probate Court and ask whether the record is available for inspection, plain copy, or certified copy.
- Give the approximate filing, death, marriage, event, or citation date so staff can narrow a manual search.
- Ask whether any part of the file is restricted because of guardianship, mental health, minor, vital-record, adoption, or sealed material.
- Use the court mailing address when the office confirms that a written request and payment by mail will be accepted.
The Georgia Department of Public Health maintains statewide vital-record resources. The Georgia DPH Vital Records page is useful when a request involves state-level birth, death, marriage, or divorce verification rather than a local probate case file.
State vital-record channels do not replace Montgomery County Probate Court for local estate, guardianship, minute-book, firearms-license, or Probate Court traffic records.
Montgomery Probate Court Contact
Montgomery County has one Probate Court office identified in the research. Judge Stacie Randolph is listed as Probate Judge, and Angel Hurst is listed as Chief Deputy Clerk. The office is at the courthouse in Mount Vernon and uses a post office box for mail.
Montgomery County Probate Court
Judge: Stacie Randolph
Chief Deputy Clerk: Angel Hurst
400 S. Railroad Avenue
P.O. Box 444
Mount Vernon, GA 30445
912-583-2681
Fax: 912-583-4343
Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM
The 2025 local leadership item from The Advance reported new Montgomery County leaders, including Probate Judge Stacie Randolph, which matches the official Probate Court page listing.
The official county page remains the controlling local source for current Probate Court contact information, hours, and staff roles.
Montgomery Probate Fees
The research did not locate an official Montgomery County Probate Court fee schedule online. The correct fee for a new estate, guardianship, conservatorship, marriage copy, certified copy, or firearms-license matter should be confirmed with the Probate Court before mailing a request or arriving to file.
That fee gap is a useful fact, not a reason to guess. Probate filings can require filing fees, publication or notice costs, certified copy costs, and later costs tied to letters, inventories, accountings, or discharge depending on the case. A caller should ask what payment types are accepted and whether the court needs an exact mailed amount before sending a written request.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Estate or will filing | Call Probate Court. Local fee schedule was not located in official sources. |
| Guardianship or conservatorship filing | Call Probate Court. Fee may depend on filing type and notices. |
| Plain or certified probate copies | Call Probate Court before requesting copies by mail. |
| Marriage or vital-record copy handled locally | Call Probate Court for local copy cost and accepted payment. |
| Probate traffic citation payment | Use EZCourtPay or call 1-800-262-0128 if appearance is not required. |
For marriage records handled by the state, the Georgia DPH marriage-record request page lists a $10 nonrefundable search fee and $5 for each additional copy requested at purchase.
DPH fees apply to the state marriage-record request channel, not to every Montgomery County Probate Court filing or copy request.
Montgomery Probate Record Fields
A probate file is usually searched by name and event date, then reviewed by case type. Estate records can show the decedent name, filing date, petitioner, administrator or executor, heirs or beneficiaries when public, will filings, bonds, oaths, letters testamentary or administration, inventories, appraisements, annual returns, final returns, notices, orders, discharge, and closing activity.
| Field | How it helps a search |
|---|---|
| Decedent, ward, or applicant name | Main name used to locate an estate, guardianship, marriage, vital record, firearms license, or traffic matter. |
| Case type | Estate, will, guardianship, conservatorship, marriage, vital record, firearms license, or traffic citation. |
| Approximate date | Filing, death, event, marriage, or citation date used to narrow a manual search. |
| Case number | Fastest identifier when the requester already has it. |
| Copy type | Plain, certified, or other copy type if available through the court. |
| Requester contact | Name, phone or email, and mailing address for follow-up and mailed copies. |
Minute books deserve special attention. The official Probate Court page states that filed documents must be recorded in minute books and kept permanently available to the public. A historical estate or guardianship question may need a minute-book search rather than a modern portal search.
Marriage and vital-record requests can overlap with probate records, but they are not the same as estate files. For a local marriage license or local certified copy, start with Montgomery County Probate Court. For state-held marriage records, the research points to Georgia DPH, which maintains marriage records for the years identified by Georgia.gov and DPH sources. Divorce decrees are not Probate Court records; certified divorce copies are requested from the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the divorce was granted.
Restricted Montgomery Probate Records
Not every record connected to Probate Court is open in the same way. Guardianship and conservatorship files may include medical, financial, evaluation, or minor-identifying information. Mental-health or involuntary-hospitalization matters are not ordinary public lookup material. Adoption and some vital-record amendment files may be sealed or available only by court order.
Juvenile-related records are also treated with care under Georgia law. The manifest includes a source image from the Georgia juvenile law-enforcement records statute, which addresses separation of juvenile law-enforcement records from adult arrest files.
That statute is not a probate filing rule by itself, but it supports the broader Georgia access limit for records involving minors.
Note: For restricted files, ask Probate Court what proof of identity, party status, attorney authority, or court order is required.