What Probate Covers in Lamar County
Lamar County Probate Court sits at 326 Thomaston Street, Barnesville, GA 30204. Judge Kathryn B. Martin is listed as the probate judge. The office phone is 770-358-5155, fax is 770-358-5348, and posted hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Friday. The office lists machele@lamarprobate.com, susan@lamarprobate.com, and rolonda@lamarprobate.com for email contact.
The county says Probate Court exercises jurisdiction over probate of wills, administration of estates, appointment of guardians, and involuntary treatment of persons suffering from mental illness. It also administers oaths of office, issues marriage licenses and gun permits, and handles traffic citations and misdemeanor offenses for the County of Lamar and City of Milner. Superior and Juvenile Court records remain with Clerk Caleb Tyson, so probate-record users should not route divorce, felony, or general Superior Court copy requests to Judge Martin's Probate Court office.
Probate Terms Defined
Probate language is often used in petitions, notices, orders, and search-result labels. The terms below help separate estate administration from guardianship and will filings.
- Testator
- A person who made a will.
- Executor
- A person named in a will to carry out estate administration after appointment by the court.
- Administrator
- A person appointed to administer an estate when there is no will or no executor able to serve.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will, which can require administration under Georgia succession rules.
- Guardian
- A person appointed to make personal decisions for a minor or incapacitated adult.
- Conservator
- A person appointed to manage property or financial affairs for someone who cannot manage them independently.
- Letters testamentary
- Formal proof that an executor has been appointed and has authority to act for the estate.
How to Search Lamar County Probate Court
The online channel is Georgia Probate Records. The portal includes tiles or endpoints for Estates, Marriages, Traffic, Wills, Guardianships, Deaths, Hearings, Miscellaneous filings, Weapons Carry Application, Petition Fee Calculator, and Participating Courts. For Lamar County estates, start with the estate search. For wills or guardianships, use the specific will or guardianship search endpoint when available.
The Georgia Probate Records estate search is the main online estate-record lookup endpoint documented for Lamar County.
Estate searching is most effective when the decedent name, filed-date range, or deceased-date range is known before using the portal.
- Choose the correct probate record type: estate, will, guardianship, hearing, miscellaneous filing, or marriage-related record.
- Select Lamar County if the portal requires a county filter.
- Search by first and last name, deceased-date range, filed-date range, or other fields supplied by that endpoint.
- Call Probate Court at 770-358-5155 when the record does not appear, certification is needed, or the matter may be confidential.
- Use records@lamarprobate.com for Probate Court open-records requests when directed by the Lamar County open records page.
Probate Courts in Lamar County
Lamar County has one Probate Court office documented in the research. It is housed at the same Thomaston Street courthouse address used by the Clerk of Superior / Juvenile Court and Superior Court records. The court is the local venue for probate matters, marriage licenses, weapons carry licenses, county traffic citations, and county/City of Milner misdemeanor offenses.
Lamar County Probate Court
Judge: Kathryn B. Martin
326 Thomaston Street
Barnesville, GA 30204
770-358-5155
Mon-Thu 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Probate Filing Fees
Lamar-specific probate filing amounts were not published in the county text reviewed for this build. The documented online fee tool is the Georgia Probate Records Petition Fee Calculator, which should be used for calculated probate petition fees rather than inventing fixed amounts. For copies requested through open-records procedures, Lamar County's public-record copy rule lists $0.10 per regular page and possible staff-time charges after the first 15 minutes under O.C.G.A. 50-18-71(b).
Fee questions should stay tied to the type of probate matter. An estate petition, a will filing, a guardianship matter, a certified-copy request, and a public-record inspection can have different cost rules. The Probate Court office can confirm whether payment must be made in person, whether a mailed request is acceptable, and whether the portal calculator applies to the petition being filed. Marriage-license and weapons-carry payment rules should not be applied to estate filings unless the court confirms the same method.
| Item | Amount / Rule |
|---|---|
| Estate or will filing | Use the Georgia Probate Records fee calculator or confirm with Probate Court. |
| Guardianship filing | Confirm through Probate Court or the portal fee calculator. |
| Regular public-record copy | $0.10 per page under Lamar County open-records guidance. |
| Search/retrieval/copy labor | First 15 minutes excluded; additional time may be charged under O.C.G.A. 50-18-71(b). |
| Certified copy | Confirm the amount and required payment method with Probate Court. |
What Lamar County Probate Court Records Show
Estate records may show the county, decedent name, filed date, date of death, estate or case number if returned, petition type, personal representative, heirs or interested parties where public, notices, inventories and accountings where public, orders, and hearing dates. Will records may identify the testator, filing information, and related estate case activity. Guardianship records can include petition information, appointment orders, notices, and accountings, but minor and medical details may be restricted.
Estate administration commonly starts with a petition, the original will if one exists, identification of heirs or beneficiaries, required notice, and appointment of a personal representative. Later filings may document creditor claims, inventories, accountings, orders, and distribution authority. A portal search result may not show every document in the file, so a complete file review or certified copy request should be made through Probate Court when a bank, title company, heir, attorney, or agency needs official proof.
The Georgia Probate Records will search is the documented will-search endpoint for probate portal users.
Will-search results should be confirmed with Probate Court when a certified copy or complete file review is needed.
Guardianship and Hearing Records
Guardianship cases involve petitions for authority over a minor or incapacitated adult and may require family, notice, medical, and court-appointment documentation. Involuntary-treatment proceedings are within Probate Court jurisdiction but should be treated carefully because mental-health information is not ordinary public case detail. Hearing information may appear through the probate portal's hearing and calendar endpoints, but restricted filings, medical details, minor information, and protected identifiers may be withheld.
The Georgia Probate Records guardianship search is the documented portal endpoint for guardianship lookup.
Guardianship search access does not mean every underlying document is public, especially when minors, incapacity, or medical issues are involved.
Restricted Probate Court Records
Probate records may be public in part, but access is not unlimited. Mental-health and involuntary-treatment details, minor guardianship information, medical material, protected personal identifiers, sealed filings, and some financial details may be restricted or redacted. If the portal does not return a record, the reason may be a search mismatch, a non-digitized filing, a confidential case type, or a record that requires local staff review.
The fallback channel is direct contact with Lamar Probate Court. The Lamar County open records page says Probate Court handles its own open-records requests and gives records@lamarprobate.com or 770-358-5155. Board of Commissioners records route to Anita Buice, and sheriff records route through the Sheriff's Office, so probate requests should stay with the Probate Court office unless the requested record was created by another agency.