IS there an inheritance tax in the state of Ga? how does that work ?

Georgia does not have any inheritance tax or estate tax for 2012. There is the federal estate tax to worry about, potentially, but the federal estate tax threshhold is current fairly high. The exact federal rules depend on the year in which your parent died. However, the federal exemption equivalent was $3,500,000 for 2009, $5,000,000 for 2010 and 2011, and $5,120,000 for 2012. To determine whether an estate meets the federal estate tax threshhold, you value all assets owned by the deceased, whether individually or jointly, and you may also need to value other assets, such as the proceeds of life insurance payments. There are entirely too many rules and facts-based answers for me to begin to give you an explanation of how the federal estate tax works here, however. If you have a question about whether your parent's estate is subject to federal estate taxes then you need to consult your own estate attorney, one with a good knowledge of tax laws. Also: even if you parent lived in Georgia, if he or she had any assets located in other states, especially real estate, then the other states' laws also need to be considered, because they may have estate or inheritance taxes which apply to the assets located inside their borders.