After the funeral for a loved one, thoughts often turn to settling the estate. One of the first questions that comes up is "is there a last will and testament?". The answer to this question will have a number of implications for how the estate is handled.When the deceased leaves a valid will, we re...
Many times, when a family starts the process of settling a Georgia estate, there is a lot of confusion about what needs to happen, when it needs to happen, and how it needs to happen. One way we help our clients with these issues is by showing them a framework for breaking down the entire estate p...
Today’s probate law question comes from Atlanta, Georgia. Under Georgia probate law, all heirs of the deceased are entitled to receive notice when the probate case is filed with the court. This is the case whether or not there is a will. Typically, the notice happens in one of two ways.First, the...
Today’s probate law question comes from Atlanta, Georgia. What happens when a business is started by a father and son, the father dies, but the business documents are not clear about whether the son owns any part of the business? To make things more complicated, the father has other children. Does...
What happens when property is owned by two people and one of them dies? Is the real estate inherited by the family? This is a common question about inheritance in Georgia. The answer depends on what the title to the property says. The relationship between the co-owners (whether married or not marr...
Erik Broel Interviewed About Building a Top Probate Law Firm in Georgia As many of our clients and friends know, we have assembled an awesome team of professionals that do some pretty incredible work for our clients. The word about our team has gotten out and our Founder and CEO, Erik Broel, was rec...
I recently received a question from Marietta, Georgia regarding life insurance. In this situation, someone died and that person had named a beneficiary on their life insurance policy. Then, the beneficiary died before the proceeds of the insurance were paid to the beneficiary. What happens to the mo...
I was recently asked to speak at “A Love Letter to Your Heirs”, which is an Enrichment for Life Movement class taught by Lee Pence, a very well respected financial advisor. I am very grateful for the opportunity because I always enjoy the opportunity to speak and educate on probate law. One ...
I recently received a question from someone in Marietta, Georgia regarding whether a petition for year’s support must be filed in order to recover funds from a bank account. Apparently, the bank branch she went to told her that letters testamentary were not going to be sufficient. The bank in thi...
How an asset is held legally will help determine if it needs to go through probate or not. Common assets that are not affected are ones held in joint tenancy, with right of survivorship, accounts with TOD or POD designations, and assets held in trust. Under a Joint Tenancy each party owns an undivi...
One of the little known facts about Georgia Probate law that may surprise you is that if you have kids, your spouse does not automatically inherit your entire estate. In fact, your spouse and children will split the estate equally, except that the spouse will never receive less than 1/3. Practicall...
Although there is no Georgia probate law that requires an estate to be opened with the probate court, the law does require anyone who is in possession of an original will of the deceased to present it to the appropriate probate court. The will can be presented to the probate court for information pu...
