§ 9-13-142.Requirements for official organ of publication; designation where no journal or newspaper qualifies; how official organ changed; notice to Secretary of State
Chapter 13. Executions and Judicial Sales · Article 7. Judicial Sales · Last amended 2024 · Last verified July 17, 2026
In one sentenceO.C.G.A. § 9-13-142 sets the qualifications a newspaper must meet and maintain to serve as a county’s official legal organ — limited advertising content, continuous local publication, a two-year record of audited paid circulation, and population-based circulation minimums — supplies fallback and interim-designation procedures for counties with no qualifying newspaper, and governs how an official organ is selected, changed, grandfathered, and reported to the Secretary of State.
(a)No journal or newspaper published in this state shall be declared, made, or maintained as the official organ of any county for the publication of sheriff’s sales, citations of probate court judges, or any other advertising commonly known in terms of “official or legal advertising” and required by law to be published in such county official newspaper unless the newspaper shall meet and maintain the following qualifications:
(1)“Newspaper” as used in this Code section means a printed product of multiple pages containing not greater than 75 percent advertising content in no more than one-half of its issues during the previous 12 months, excluding separate advertising supplements inserted into but separately identifiable from any regular issue or issues of the newspaper;
(2)The newspaper shall be published within the county and continuously at least weekly for a period of two years or is the direct successor of such a newspaper. Failure to publish for not more than two weeks in any calendar year shall not disqualify a newspaper otherwise qualified;
(3)For a period of two years prior to designation and thereafter, the newspaper shall have and maintain at least 75 percent paid circulation as established by an independent audit. Paid circulation shall not include newspapers that are distributed free or in connection with a service or promotion at no additional charge to the ultimate recipient. For circulation to be considered paid, the recipient of the newspaper or such recipient’s employer or household must pay reasonable and adequate consideration for the newspaper. No rules of circulation of audit companies, the United States Postal Service, or accounting principles may be considered in determining paid circulation if they are inconsistent with the provisions of this subsection;
(4)Based on the published results of the 1990 United States decennial census or any future such census, the newspaper shall have and maintain at least the following paid circulation within the county for which it is designated as the legal organ newspaper:
(A)Five hundred copies per issue in counties having a population of less than 20,000;
(B)Seven hundred fifty copies per issue in counties having a population of at least 20,000 but less than 100,000; or
(C)One thousand five hundred copies per issue in counties having a population of 100,000 or greater; and
(5)For purposes of this Code section, paid circulation shall include home or mail delivery subscription sales, counter, vendor and newsrack sales, and sales to independent newspaper contract carriers for resale. Paid circulation shall not include multiple copies purchased by one entity unless the multiple copies are purchased for and distributed to the purchaser’s officers, employees, or agents, or within the purchaser’s household.
(1)In counties where no journal or newspaper meets the qualifications set forth in subsection (a) of this Code section, the official organ may be designated by the judge of the probate court, the sheriff, and the clerk of the superior court, or by a majority of these officers governing from among newspapers otherwise qualified to be a legal organ that meet the minimum paid circulation in subsection (a) of this Code section for the county, or if there is no such newspaper, then the newspaper having the greatest general paid circulation in the county of at least 100 copies per issue.
(2)In the event that no otherwise qualified journal or newspaper has a paid circulation of at least 100 copies per issue in the county, the judge of the probate court, the sheriff, the clerk of the superior court, or a majority of these officers may designate a newspaper that does not meet the qualifications of subsection (a) of this Code section, but does have a weekly circulation in the county of at least 100 copies per issue, as the legal interim organ for the county. Such interim designation shall terminate in the event that another newspaper meets the qualifications of subsection (a) of this Code section and is designated as the county’s legal organ pursuant to this Code section.
(c)Any selection or change in the official organ of any county shall be made upon the concurrent action of the judge of the probate court, the sheriff, and the clerk of the superior court of the county or a majority of the officers. No change in the official legal organ shall be effective without the publication for four weeks of notice of the decision to make a change in the newspaper in which legal advertisements have previously been published. All changes in the official legal organ shall be made effective on January 1 unless a change has to be made where there is no other qualified newspaper.
(d)Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Code section, an official organ of any county meeting the qualifications under the statute in force at the time of its appointment and which was appointed prior to July 1, 1999, may remain the official organ of that county until a majority of the judge of the probate court, the sheriff, and the clerk of the superior court determine to appoint a new official organ for the county.
(e)During the month of December in each year, the judge of the probate court of each county shall notify the Secretary of State, on a form supplied by the Secretary of State, of the name and mailing address of the journal or newspaper currently serving as the official organ of the county. The judge of the probate court shall also likewise notify the Secretary of State of any change in the official organ of the county at the time that such change is made. The Secretary of State shall maintain at all times a current listing of the names and addresses of all county organs and shall make such list available to any person upon request.
Plain-English Summary
Code Section 9-13-140 requires sheriff’s sales to run in the county’s “legal organ,” and this section defines what earns a newspaper that role. The point is to keep the designation tied to a paper with a genuine local readership, not one chosen for convenience or connections, since the whole notice system depends on the legal organ reaching the public.
Subsection (a) lays out the qualifications: the paper must be a multi-page printed product that does not exceed 75 percent advertising content in more than half of its issues over the trailing twelve months, excluding separately identifiable advertising inserts — a filter aimed at shoppers and pure ad circulars. It must have published continuously within the county, at least weekly, for two years, or be the direct successor of a newspaper that already built that same two-year publication record (missing up to two weeks in a calendar year will not disqualify it), and it must show at least 75 percent paid circulation over that same two-year window, verified by an independent audit, with paid circulation defined to exclude free or promotional distribution and to require genuine consideration from the recipient or the recipient’s employer or household. On top of that, the paper must hit a minimum paid circulation tied to the county’s population under the 1990 census or any later one: 500 copies per issue in counties under 20,000, 750 in counties between 20,000 and 100,000, and 1,500 in counties of 100,000 or more.
Subsection (b) supplies two fallback tiers for counties without a newspaper that clears those bars. First, the probate judge, the sheriff, and the clerk of superior court — or a majority of them — may designate an organ from among newspapers that meet the other qualifications and the minimum circulation, or, failing that, the newspaper with the greatest paid circulation of at least 100 copies per issue. Second, if no paper reaches even that 100-copy floor, the same officials may name an “interim organ” with at least 100 copies of weekly circulation. That interim designation does not expire on its own; it ends only when another newspaper meets the subsection (a) qualifications and is affirmatively designated as the county’s legal organ under this Code section.
The remaining subsections handle the mechanics around the edges: changing an organ takes the concurrent action of the probate judge, sheriff, and clerk of superior court (or a majority), four weeks of published notice in the outgoing organ, and generally takes effect on January 1; organs already in place before July 1, 1999 may continue under the old rules until the officials choose to replace them; and each December, the probate judge must report the county’s current organ to the Secretary of State, who keeps a public statewide list and must also be notified whenever the organ changes mid-year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a county’s “legal organ” and why does it matter?
It is the newspaper designated as the county’s official venue for legal notices, including the sheriff’s sale advertisements required under Code Section 9-13-140.
How much of a newspaper’s content can be advertising and still qualify as a legal organ?
The statute defines a qualifying “newspaper” as a multi-page printed product that does not exceed 75 percent advertising content in more than half of its issues over the trailing twelve months, not counting separately identifiable advertising inserts.
What happens if no newspaper in the county meets the qualifications in subsection (a)?
Subsection (b) supplies fallback procedures: designation among papers meeting the minimum circulation, or, if none does, an interim organ with at least 100 copies of weekly circulation. That interim status ends only when another newspaper meets the subsection (a) qualifications and is affirmatively designated as the county’s legal organ, not merely because a qualifying paper happens to exist.
Who decides which newspaper serves as the legal organ, and how is that choice changed?
The judge of the probate court, the sheriff, and the clerk of superior court, or a majority of them; changing the organ requires four weeks of published notice and generally takes effect on January 1.
Does the county have to report its legal organ to the state?
Yes. Each December, and whenever the organ changes, the probate judge must notify the Secretary of State, who keeps a current, publicly available list of every county’s organ.
Amendment History
Laws 1850, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 580.; Code 1863, § 3577; Code 1868, § 3600; Code 1873, § 3650; Code 1882, § 3650; Civil Code 1895, § 5460; Ga. L. 1910, p. 87, § 1; Code 1910, § 6065; Code 1933, §§ 39-1103, 39-1107; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 271, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 1248, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1035, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 528, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 6, § 2; Ga. L. 2023, p. 535, § 1/HB 254, effective July 1, 2023; Ga. L. 2024, p. 1052, § 6(2)/SB 448, effective July 1, 2024.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, published by the
Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Georgia Code Revision Commission / LexisNexis. Last verified July 17, 2026.
· Official source
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