---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-2-18. Recording deed upon affidavit of subscribing witness; effect of substantial compliance.
collection: code
id: 44-2-18
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-2-18 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-2-18
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-2-18.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-2-18/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch1-7-(v31)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6890e72d_0#page=25
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-2.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-2-17.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-2-19.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / RECORDATION AND REGISTRATION OF DEEDS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS / RECORDING / RECORDING OF DEEDS AND OTHER REAL PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-2-18. Recording deed upon affidavit of subscribing witness; effect of substantial compliance.

If a deed is not attested by one of the officers named in Code Section 44-2-15, it may be recorded upon the affidavit of a subscribing witness, which affidavit shall be made before any one of the officers named in Code Section 44-2-15 and shall testify to the execution of the deed and its attestation according to law. A substantial compliance with the requirements of this Code section shall be held sufficient in the absence of all suspicion of fraud.

## History

Laws 1850, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 181.; Code 1863, § 2669; Code 1868, § 2665; Code 1873, § 2707; Code 1882, § 2707; Civil Code 1895, § 3623; Civil Code 1910, § 4205; Code 1933, § 29-410; Ga. L. 2023, p. 599, § 1/HB 182, effective May 4, 2023.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2023, p. 599, § 4/HB 182, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that the amendment of this Code section shall apply to all deeds and other instruments recorded pursuant to Code Section 44-14-61 from July 1, 2015.

## Law Reviews

For article, “Eleventh Circuit Survey: January 1, 2013 — December 31, 2013: Casenote: The Decline and Fall of Constructive Notice,” see 65 Mercer L. Rev. 1203 (2014).

## Amendments

The 2023 amendment, effective May 4, 2023, substituted “If a deed is not attested by one of the officers” for “If a deed is neither attested by nor acknowledged before one of the officers” at the beginning of this Code section.