Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Georgia · Coastal Georgia · #682
Liberty County, Georgia
On the Georgia coast between Savannah and Brunswick, Liberty County holds Fort Stewart - the U.S. Army's largest installation east of the Mississippi River and home to the 3rd Infantry Division - in a county where military culture, Gullah Geechee sea island heritage, and coastal plain geography exist in close and sometimes uneasy proximity.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Liberty County Sheriff’s Office – 201 S. Main Street, Suite 1300, Hinesville, GA 31313 | (912) 876-2131 | Fax (912) 876-2179; Sheriff Bowman. Liberty County Jail – 180 Paul Sikes Drive, Hinesville, GA | (912) 876-6411. The office fields 66 full-time sworn officers and 54 full-time civilians, with additional part-time staff, covering the Sheriff’s constitutional duties across law enforcement, courts, civil process, and jail operations.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-95 and US-84 serve Hinesville, the county seat and largest city, core of the Hinesville Metropolitan Statistical Area within the broader Savannah metropolitan area.
Notes: Liberty County is one of Georgia’s original counties, created February 5, 1777, genuinely named simply for “Liberty” itself, reflecting the Revolutionary-era spirit of its founding citizens; the new government, composed largely of leading citizens of the former Saint John’s Parish, organized a convention that helped establish Georgia’s first state constitution. The area was originally home to the Guale people, ministered to by the early Spanish Catholic mission Santa Catalina de Guale on today’s St. Catherine’s Island.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Liberty County Courthouse – 100 Main Street, Hinesville, GA (built 1926, Classical Revival, architect J.J. Baldwin; National Register of Historic Places since 1980), a two-story domed redbrick building with architecturally complementary wings added in 1965.
Notes: The separately NRHP-listed Liberty County Jail (302 South Main Street, built 1892; NRHP since 1992), a two-story brick building constructed to replace an earlier wooden jail, is among the oldest brick buildings in both Hinesville and the county; it served until 1970, when a new jail opened with then-Governor Lester Maddox in attendance.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Liberty County Veterans Services – confirm current contact via libertycountyga.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Liberty County Public Library System (Hinesville) – confirm current addresses/phones via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The historic 1892 Liberty County Jail and the 1926 Liberty County Courthouse are among the county’s premier heritage attractions. Liberty County carries the tourism motto “The Right Blend.”
Notes: Confirm current parks and recreation facilities via libertycountyga.gov.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Liberty County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via libertycountyga.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via libertycountyga.gov; Liberty County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Liberty County Solid Waste / Planning & Zoning – confirm current contact via libertycountyga.gov.
NOTES: Liberty County is the ninety-first county completed in Georgia’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The county’s genuine, evocative Revolutionary-era naming and its role in helping draft Georgia’s first state constitution are among the standout local facts covered 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 Liberty County
Liberty County’s Fort Stewart is the defining fact of the county’s existence. The 279,000-acre installation – larger than some states’ counties in its own right – is the primary assignment station of the 3rd Infantry Division and hosts tens of thousands of active-duty soldiers and their families in a residential and operational footprint that dwarfs the county’s civilian government. Hinesville, the county seat, is essentially a base support city – its commercial development, housing market, and service economy are organized around the military population. The installation’s size means that much of Liberty County is simply Fort Stewart, and the county’s tax base, employment, and population demographics are shaped by federal military decisions rather than local economic development choices.
The county’s coastal zones contain significant Gullah Geechee cultural heritage – the descendants of enslaved Africans who created a distinct culture on Georgia’s sea islands maintain communities in the county’s coastal areas. Midway, one of Liberty County’s historic communities, is the site of Midway Church, built in 1792 by Puritan descendants from Massachusetts whose congregation produced two signers of the Declaration of Independence and several Revolutionary War generals.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Georgia assesses property at 40% of fair market value. Property owners have 45 days from the notice of assessment to appeal. Georgia offers school tax exemptions for seniors 62 and older. Georgia has no estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
Liberty County Probate Court: 112 North Main Street, Hinesville, GA 31313 | (912) 876-3625. The Probate Court handles estate administration and guardianship. For Fort Stewart military families, SBP elections and SGLI/VGLI/TSP beneficiary designations pass entirely outside the will and must be updated after every significant life event and before deployment.
Senior Services
Southeast Georgia Area Agency on Aging
P.O. Box 1917, Waycross, GA 31502
Phone: (912) 285-6097
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)
201 Main St., Hinesville, GA 31313
(912) 876-3625
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Probate Court of Liberty County (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Coastal Georgia Genealogical Society serves Liberty among Bryan, Camden, Glynn, and McIntosh Counties.
Local societies
Coastal Georgia Genealogical Society (see above) is the primary regional resource; no dedicated Liberty-County-only 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 Liberty County 100 Main Street, Hinesville, GA 31313 (912) 876-3635
The 1926 Liberty County Courthouse (Hinesville) is a domed redbrick Classical Revival building on the National Register of Historic Places. Liberty County is home to Fort Stewart, a major U.S. Army installation.
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 Liberty 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
200 Timber Trail, Hinesville, GA 31313
(912) 876-5115
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS / VOTER REGISTRATION
112 N. Main St., Hinesville, GA 31313
(912) 876-3389
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
GA Dept of Public Health — Coastal
(912) 876-2173
GA DFCS — Liberty
(912) 408-2100
GA Medicaid
(800) 869-1150
Liberty Regional Medical Center
libertyregional.org (Hinesville)
Winn Army Community Hospital (Fort Stewart)
winn.amedd.army.mil
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Liberty County Health Department – confirm current contact via libertycountyga.gov.
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Hinesville
Population: 65,000
Area: 519 sq mi
Established: 1777
Tier: 4
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Liberty County facilities via Amazon.
