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Office: Dade County Sheriff’s Office – 75 Case Avenue, P.O. Box 920, Trenton, GA 30752 | (706) 657-3233 | Email: [email protected]. The office provides court security, civil process service, and operates the Dade County Jail (built 1989, capacity 116), and participates in the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association CHAMPS program, teaching 5th graders about drug awareness and safety.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-11/64 serve Trenton, the county seat and only incorporated municipality, part of the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Dade County occupies the northwest corner of Georgia; its own northwest corner is the westernmost point in the entire state.
Notes: Dade County was created in 1837 from Walker County, named for Major Francis Langhorne Dade, a U.S. Army officer. Trenton, initially called Salem after its 1830s founding, became county seat in 1839 and was renamed in 1840-41 for Trenton, New Jersey – reportedly at the request of local leaders after a delegation of New Jersey businessmen expressed interest in developing the county’s coal and iron resources.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Dade County Courthouse – Courthouse Square, Trenton, GA (built 1926, Carpenter style, builder Barrett Construction Co.; National Register of Historic Places since 1980).
Notes: Dade County carries a genuinely famous local legend: in 1860, county residents voted to secede from both the state of Georgia and the United States – a vote no outside government ever formally recognized as legal – earning the county the enduring nickname “The State of Dade.” In 1945, the county held a symbolic ceremony “rejoining” Georgia and the United States. Before the Civil War, significant coal and coke mining operations in the county supplied foundries in Rome and Etowah; Confederate general John B. Gordon was among the area’s earliest mining-community settlers before recruiting local men, including the “Raccoon Roughs,” to serve under him. During the war, Union General George Thomas moved more than 40,000 troops through the area en route to the Battle of Chickamauga.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Dade County Veterans Services – confirm current contact via dadecounty-ga.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Dade County Public Library (Trenton) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The historic Dade County Courthouse and downtown Trenton, along with the surrounding Appalachian foothills scenery near the westernmost point in Georgia, are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: Confirm current parks and recreation facilities via dadecounty-ga.gov.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Dade County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via dadecounty-ga.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via dadecounty-ga.gov; Dade County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Dade County Solid Waste / Planning & Zoning – confirm current contact via dadecounty-ga.gov.
NOTES: Dade County is the forty-second county completed in Georgia’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, famous “State of Dade” secession legend – clarified as never legally recognized outside the county – is among the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Dade County County
Dade County is Georgia’s far northwest corner and Cloudland Canyon county – the most dramatic canyon state park in Georgia occupying Lookout Mountain’s western escarpment and the county’s legendary geographic isolation that gave rise to the “State of Dade” secession story define Georgia’s most remote and scenically spectacular northwestern community.
Trenton (the county seat, population ~2,100) is Dade County’s governmental hub, a small northwest Georgia mountain community on US 11 whose Cloudland Canyon gateway position, Lookout Mountain setting, and tri-state corner location anchor its identity.
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Dade County Tax Assessor at 71 Case Avenue, Trenton, GA 30752, phone 706-657-4778. GA assessed at 40% of fair market value.
Courts & Legal
Dade County Probate Court at 71 Case Avenue, Trenton, GA 30752, phone 706-657-4760, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF SUPERIOR COURT (Records, Marriage Licenses)
71 Case Ave., Trenton, GA 30752
(706) 657-4700
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Probate Court of Dade County (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Dade County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Probate Court of Dade County P.O. Box 417, Trenton, GA 30752 (706) 657-4414
Dade County is in Georgia’s extreme northwest corner, bordered by Alabama and Tennessee – historically so isolated it was nicknamed “The State of Dade” and once flirted with seceding to join Tennessee.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Georgia is NOT a Uniform Probate Code state and doesn’t use a simple dollar-threshold “small estate affidavit” like many states. Instead it offers several distinct shortcuts, each suited to a different situation:
Banking Affidavit – for intestate estates with less than $15,000 in bank deposits and no other assets requiring administration. No court filing needed at all.
No Administration Necessary (Standard Form 9) – available when all heirs agree on how to divide the property and there are no debts (or all creditors consent). Can transfer real estate without full administration, but requires unanimous heir agreement – any disagreement forces the estate into formal probate.
Year’s Support (Standard Form 10, O.C.G.A. Chapter 53-3) – a distinctively Georgia protection: the surviving spouse and minor children can petition for property sufficient to maintain their standard of living for 12 months from the date of death. This takes priority over virtually all creditor claims and even most specific bequests in the will. Must be filed within 24 months of death. No bond, no inventory filing, no creditor claims period required – the fastest and simplest path when it applies.
Formal Administration – Petition to Probate Will (Common Form or Solemn Form) or Petition for Letters of Administration, when none of the above shortcuts fit.
COMMON FORM VS. SOLEMN FORM (a distinctively Georgia choice)
Common Form: the executor files the will with supporting evidence and the court admits it without notifying all heirs – faster and cheaper, but leaves a 4-year window during which interested parties can challenge the will.
Solemn Form (Standard Form 5): requires notice to all heirs; once granted, it’s final and binding much sooner, closing off future challenges.
If formal administration is needed
File the appropriate petition with the Dade County Probate Court – Petition to Probate Will (Common or Solemn Form) if there’s a will, or Petition for Letters of Administration if not.
The court issues a citation, published in the county’s legal organ once a week for four weeks (O.C.G.A. § 53-5-2), giving interested parties a chance to object.
After the publication period, attend the hearing for appointment as personal representative.
Once appointed, the court issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without one).
Send certified copies of the death certificate and Letters to all banks, brokerages, insurers, and retirement custodians; request date-of-death valuations and begin marshaling assets.
Obtain an EIN via IRS Form SS-4 and open an estate checking account.
Prepare an inventory of assets with date-of-death fair market values; the court may require this under O.C.G.A. § 53-7-30.
Pay debts and expenses in Georgia’s priority order (see below), then distribute remaining assets per the will or intestacy law.
What it costs
No Georgia state estate tax or inheritance tax.
Court filing fees typically range $100–$300 depending on the county.
Certified copies of Letters typically cost around $10 each.
Indigent petitioners may file an Affidavit of Indigency to request a fee waiver.
E-filing is available and encouraged statewide through platforms like PeachCourt or Odyssey eFileGA.
DEBT PRIORITY ORDER IF THE ESTATE CAN’T PAY EVERYTHING (O.C.G.A. §§ 53-3-1, 53-7-40)
Year’s Support for surviving spouse and minor children under 18.
Funeral expenses.
Costs of probate administration.
Expenses of the decedent’s last illness.
Taxes.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
71 Case Ave., Trenton, GA 30752
(706) 657-8584
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS / VOTER REGISTRATION
71 Case Ave., Trenton, GA 30752
(706) 657-4625
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
GA Dept of Public Health — Northwest
(706) 657-7884
GA DFCS — Dade
(706) 657-6484
GA Medicaid
(800) 869-1150
Erlanger Health System (Chattanooga, TN)
erlanger.org
CHI Memorial (Chattanooga, TN)
memorial.org
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Dade County Health Department – confirm current contact via dadecounty-ga.gov.
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Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Trenton
Population: 16,000
Area: 173 sq mi
Established: 1837
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Dade County County residents.
