Court portal, certified copy fees, and expungement laws for Georgia
In Georgia, an eviction record begins as a dispossessory case in the county Magistrate Court where the rental property sits. That is the single most important thing to know before you go looking: there is no statewide portal that pulls every Georgia eviction into one searchable database. Access is handled county-by-county, which means the trail runs through the county Magistrate Court clerk rather than a unified state website. Some larger counties post case lookups online; many do not, and you will be calling or walking into the clerk's office.
That fractured access cuts two ways. For a landlord screening an applicant who has lived in several counties, one search rarely covers the whole picture. For a tenant, a record filed in one county does not automatically surface elsewhere — but it never disappears either. Certified copies run $0.25 per page, and because Georgia has no statutory eviction-record expungement, a filing can stay visible for years.
Start with the right court and the right county. Dispossessory (eviction) actions are filed in the Magistrate Court of the county where the property is located, so your first job is identifying every county a person has rented in. Because Georgia offers county-level access only and no statewide portal, you search each one separately.
Practical path: contact the county Magistrate Court clerk directly. A handful of populous counties expose an online case search or docket lookup, but coverage is uneven — if a county has no public site, the clerk's office can run a name search at the counter or by phone. Bring the tenant's full legal name and, ideally, prior addresses. When you need an official document for a file or dispute, request a certified copy at $0.25 per page. Expect each county to have its own forms, hours, and quirks.
The most common mistake on a Georgia record is treating the case caption as the verdict. A dispossessory filing is not a judgment — it only shows the landlord opened a case. What matters is the disposition: did the court enter a writ of possession against the tenant, was the case dismissed, settled, or did the tenant prevail? Many filings end without any judgment for possession.
When you pull a record, read past the first page. Look for the final order and the date, not just the initial complaint. A tenant who paid the balance and had the case dismissed should not be scored the same as one who lost on the merits. Magistrate dockets in Georgia note these outcomes, but the language varies by county clerk, so when the disposition is ambiguous, request the certified copy and confirm the result before drawing any conclusion.
Here is the blunt reality: Georgia has no statutory right to expunge or seal an eviction record. Unlike states with a dedicated sealing statute, a Georgia dispossessory case generally remains part of the Magistrate Court file indefinitely. That permanence shapes both sides of a tenant screening.
For landlords, two cautions matter. First, federal law still governs how you use the record: the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) applies whenever you pull a tenant screening report through a consumer reporting agency, including notice and adverse-action duties. Second, because a filing is not a judgment, do not reject an applicant on the existence of a case alone — verify the disposition. Acting on an incomplete or misread Magistrate record is exactly where avoidable screening disputes start.
This page was prepared by the Eviction Risk Map research team using public information from Georgia's county Magistrate Courts, which hold the state's dispossessory (eviction) case records, and reflects that Georgia has no statewide eviction-records portal and no statutory expungement or sealing law for eviction cases. Last reviewed June 2026. This is general information for landlords and tenants, not legal advice; consult a licensed Georgia attorney or the relevant county Magistrate Court clerk for guidance on a specific case.
Identify the county where the rental was located, then search that county's Magistrate Court, which hears dispossessory (eviction) cases. Georgia has no statewide portal, so you check each county separately. Some larger counties offer an online case lookup; otherwise, contact the county Magistrate Court clerk to run a name search. Have the tenant's full legal name and prior addresses ready.
Yes. Dispossessory cases filed in Magistrate Court are public court records, viewable through the county clerk and, in some counties, an online docket search. Because access is county-by-county with no statewide portal, the same person's records may exist in multiple counties — one search will not necessarily reveal all of them.
There is no statutory eviction-record expungement or sealing right in Georgia, so a dispossessory record generally stays in the Magistrate Court file. A tenant's strongest practical step is ensuring the record is accurate: if a case was dismissed or settled, confirm the clerk's docket reflects that disposition, and dispute inaccurate entries with any tenant screening company reporting the case under the FCRA.
Certified copies from the county Magistrate Court run $0.25 per page in Georgia. Fees and payment methods vary by county clerk, so confirm the total and accepted payment before requesting a multi-page case file.
Court portal information sourced from the Georgia court administrative office official website. Expungement laws from published Georgia statutes (see citations above). Last updated August 17, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice.
