Wills and trusts are two different ways someone can receive an inheritance. These can be used independently or together. What does Georgia probate law say when the deceased leaves both a will and a trust? Is probate required to receive an inheritance? When a trust is created and funded prope...
When someone who is an heir or a beneficiary of an estate dies while that estate is still pending, Georgia probate law says that the property that was supposed to go to that person will be inherited that person’s estate instead. For example, let’s assume your spouse’s parent passes away first....
What is a probate inventory? Once you become appointed as executor or administrator of an estate, you may be required to file an initial inventory and ongoing annual returns. This is an area that trips up a lot of personal representatives, and I don’t want you to be one of them. In...
If you’re handling an estate, you may be required to obtain a bond before the probate court will allow you to serve as executor or administrator. But, how does a probate bond work and who pays for a probate bond? At first, the idea of a bond may seem unusual or even scary. In this artic...
Under Georgia probate law, when a person has passed away, there are certain requirements that must be met to properly open an estate for the deceased. The first is to file a petition with the court that has true and correct information. There are several different types of petitions that can be fil...
If you are an heir or beneficiary of an estate, and believe the Executor is not fulfilling their responsibilities you may have a right to challenge their actions in probate court. An Executor owes certain duties to the estate. The main responsibilities of an Executor are to act i...
A petition for discharge of personal representative is something to take very seriously. This petition asks the court to release the personal representative of his or her duties to the estate. As a result, it can have serious consequences. Most importantly, the personal representativ...
Who becomes the administrator? It happens all too often. A family member passes away and after the funeral, thoughts turn to probate and settling the estate. Someone takes charge and decides that they are the right person to be the administrator of the estate. What if you don’t agree? What if yo...
What does Georgia probate law have to say about an executor who lived with the deceased prior to death and continues to live in the estate home while administering the estate? What if the administration is delayed as a result? What can you do if you’re a beneficiary watching all of this happen and...
In many instances, when two people are named co-executor of the estate and required to act together, the co executors disagree about how to manage the estate, and co-executor problems can arise. In some instances, what should be nothing more than simple disagreements turn ugly and one executor may g...
We're going to talk about three things in the estate process, and these three things are going to have a large impact on how complicated the estate is, how expensive it is, and how long it takes. My name is Erik Broel, I'm the founder and CEO of Georgia Probate Law Group. We're a law f...
I have an important topic to talk to you about today: The three phases that every estate goes through in the Georgia probate process. After reading about these phases, you’ll have an overview of the steps to probate a will in Georgia, from the beginning when we open the estate, to the end wh...
