Georgia Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

You need to be appointed as the administrator of your father's estate by the probate court. You can file disclaimers of the other heirs into the case and then deed the property to yourself as administrator.  You should consult with an attorney to make sure that this is done properly. The time an money you save by doing it properly will be your own. ... Read More

Owner can give you 60 days notice to get out and then evict based on GA law. Since you had permission to be at the residence, you cannot effectively make a claim based on the time that you have been at the residence (adverse possession). Perhaps you have a contract claim for wages or some other promise? Seems like a long shot. See an attorney.... Read More

The Trustee of the trust needs to execute a Trustee's deed that transfers the property from the trust to the appropriate beneficiaries, and the deed needs to be recorded with the appropriate county. Get a real estate attorney to help the Trustee prepare the deed- real estate is NEVER a good do-it-yourself project.... Read More

A quitclaim deed is 'legal' even if it has not been recorded. If a party who does not know about the quit claim deed buys the house from the estate of the parent and then records their deed, this claim may come in front of yours. See a Georgia attorney to understand your options and risks. ... Read More

Usually, if a beneficiary of a life insurance policy predeceases the policy holder and there is no contingent beneficiary, the life insurance policy will pay the estate of the decedent and then ultimately to the beneficiaries of the estate of decedent. Probate may be required to allow administrator / executor to obtain the payout from the insurance company.... Read More

When you marry a woman with children who are not yours, they become your stepchildren under US immigration law if they are under the age of 18 at the time of your marriage. Assuming that was the case, it would appear that DNA testing should not have been a requirement for the children’s case so long as you have a bona fide marriage with their mother, and that the marriage was not entered into just in order to accord US immigration privileges. There is a possibility that the consular officer may have been concerned about the bona fides since your spouse was probably accorded the immigrant visa based upon her ability to satisfy the bona fide requirement – which burden may have been less in light of the representation that you had common children. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read More

Please accept my condolence on the loss of your husband. As for your question, there is literally no way that anyone online can tell you what you need to do in order to sell your house, because the answer depends on how the home was owned at your husband's death. If you and your husband owned the house as joint tenants with rights of survivorship (which means that the deed not only lists both of you as owners but also that it contained language clearly stating that you owned the property as joint tenants or with rights of survivorshp- just your names without the other language means you owned it in a different kind of joint ownership), then the house is already yours and you can sell it without doing anything else. You will just need to provide a certified copy of the death certificate (the green copy with the seal on it) when you sell. If you and your husband owned the property jointly, but NOT as joint tenants, then his half of the property is part of his estate and you will either need to offer his Will for probate and get an Executor appointed for his estate in order to handle his interest in the house OR you will need to make a claim for a Year's Support and have his interest in the property awarded to you that way. If the house was owned solely in your name, or in only your trust, you don't have to do anything. If the house was owned solely in your husband's name, then you have to either probate or make the year's support claim, but for all of the property instead of only his share. If the house was owned solely in your husband's trust, then you shouldn't have to probate, but you will need to deal with the trust and make sure that the Trustee takes whatever steps are needed to either help sell the house or distribute it to you so you can sell it. Do NOT try to do any of those things on your own, and DO NOT rely on this answer. Get a consultation with an experienced probate attorney before you decide what to do or file anything with the probate court. The attorney will need to review the deed, the Will, and the trust and understand the actual facts of your situation and provide you with advice. Best wishes to you.  ... Read More

In theory, the waiver of an inventory and reports only applies to the normal requirement that those documents be filed with the probate court, and does not mean that they do not have to be provided to heirs. However, in many cases administrators who aren't required to provide those documents to the court don't end up providing them to the heirs, either unless their attorneys push them to do so. Keep in mind, however, that not waiving the bond, inventory, and reporting requirements will likely mean that the estate administration costs more, which in turn may reduce the amount ultimately available for distribution. Not waiving those requirements may provide you with better protection but there are trade offs. You are entitled to have your own attorney represent you on these kinds of issues, and you really should consider getting a consultation. No one in this kind of forum can actually review the entire situation and understand what's going on. Best wishes to you and please accept my condolences on the loss of your father.  ... Read More

In most cases, a child can still inherit from a parent who gave up that parent's parental rights if the parent dies with no Will. The exception would generally be that, if the child is legally adopted by someone, then that child may  not be able to inherit from the biological parent and would instead inherit from the child's adoptive parent.... Read More