Estate Administration & Probate in Georgia

The weight of administering an estate

Estate personal representatives take on significant legal duties. Family matters can get complicated, and beneficiaries, creditors, and heirs may hold conflicting interests. The process can be a headache and cause a great deal of stress.

Estate disputes are, unfortunately, all too common. You may be a beneficiary or heir who hasn’t received your full due from the estate, or an estate or trust fiduciary who is sued by a beneficiary. Left unchecked, these disputes can drag on for years and wipe out an estate’s value before arriving at a resolution that satisfies no one. With effective legal representation, you can protect your interests and avoid that outcome.

Contact Joseph Cheeley or call 770-831-7910 now to discuss estate administration and fiduciary duties with a seasoned Georgia estate and fiduciary attorney.

How do you become an administrator of an estate in Georgia?

Most estates are established in the county where the deceased lived. The person who administers the estate is called a personal representative under Georgia law. Even when the deceased appointed an executor in their will, a petition must still be filed with the probate court to obtain legal authority to act on behalf of the estate.

If an executor has been appointed in a will, the probate court will issue Letters Testamentary. If the court appoints an administrator, it will issue Letters of Administration. The representative must then notify all heirs and beneficiaries as required under the will and state law, which kicks off the administration and distribution process.

An executor named in a will is usually someone the deceased trusted to carry out their final wishes — often a spouse, but almost anyone can serve: a sibling, parent, child, an attorney, a bank, or even the county administrator. A trusted heir is not always an experienced administrator, which is where a knowledgeable estate attorney becomes critical to a successful distribution.

How long does an administrator have to settle an estate?

Georgia law imposes no time limit on settling an estate. Depending on its size, creditors, and other issues, an estate can be administered in as little as six months or take many years.

Generally, the sooner you move through the process, the better. Unresolved parts of an estate can create legal issues — and added expense — if not handled properly. An experienced estate administration attorney can make sure every loose end is tied up.

Probate and administration of estates

Probate is the court-supervised process of distributing assets in a deceased person’s estate after their passing. Having a legally valid will in place is the first step toward avoiding as much of the probate process as possible.

If a person leaves no valid will, their estate must go through administration before it is distributed to heirs. The experienced team at Cheeley Legal can guide personal representatives, beneficiaries, heirs, and creditors through this process.

Does an estate have to go through probate in Georgia?

In Georgia, some estate assets don’t require court supervision to be distributed. For certain assets you can skip the probate process entirely, for example:

Whether or not the probate court is involved, an estate’s executor or administrator must fulfill their fiduciary duties to the heirs and beneficiaries. The stakes are high and the process is complicated, which is why it’s best to get advice from an estate administration attorney as soon as possible.

Georgia’s probate process

The Georgia probate process involves three phases:

Most of the heavy lifting falls to the personal representative. Once officially appointed through the probate court, the executor or administrator has a legal duty to:

That is a great deal of responsibility for one person — especially someone who has never managed an estate — and it must all be done while upholding strict fiduciary duties.

Estate litigation and breaches of fiduciary duty

Whoever is appointed personal representative has a legal duty to act in good faith and in the best interests of all persons interested in the estate.

If a fiduciary begins self-dealing, overpaying themselves, making improper investments, taking estate assets, or sabotaging the deceased’s wishes, beneficiaries or heirs can sue them for breach of fiduciary duty. A successful lawsuit can recover damages for the harm those actions caused.

In some cases, parties unhappy with how an estate has been handled make false allegations that the representative breached their duty, even when the fiduciary did everything properly. A fiduciary lawyer can help defend personal representatives against those false claims.

Whether you are pursuing a claim or defending against one, the right counsel keeps an estate dispute from draining the very estate it concerns.

Contact the Cheeley Legal team or call 770-831-7910 now to discuss your options when it comes to estate administration and breaches of fiduciary duty.