Georgia Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

Your husband needs to have his Will reviewed, to make sure it remained valid after your marriage and that it is validly prepared and executed. He will also need to make sure that he has any beneficiary designations up-to-date so that you are named as the primary beneficiary. Ideally, you should also have estate planning done for yourself. Any time you've had a major life event like a marriage, it's a good idea to get an estate planning consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney. That's the best way to be sure that you have a plan in place and that it will work the way you intend it to if a death or disability happens. Best wishes to you.... Read More

Hi Joshua, InitiaIly, you should have an entity forms for it. Otherwise, it depends on what type of adult entertainment company you want to start. Many documents could be involved. Some involve: What will be its products and/or services? Will it have employees? Will it create any original content? Will others be involved? I'd need a lot more detail to answer your question.   Paul Menes    ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your daughter. As for your question, if your daughter truly had no assets, only debts, then you likely do not need to open an estate for her. Just abandon any assets that she did have, tell any creditors that you know of that she has passed on but that no estate will be opened because there are no assets and so there will be no administrator or executor, and that's it. If she did have a Will, you need to file the original Will for informational purposes only with the appropriate probate court, as required by Georgia law, if you have the original Will. If she did not have a Will, then there may be no need to do anything. Essentially, you need to open an estate for someone if they have assets that need to be dealt with. "Assets" includes the usual items like real estate, a car, personal possession, and bank or brokerage accounts. It could also include a right to receive money, such as money from a lawsuit, a tax refund, or an asset sale. If someone truly has no assets, or if the assets they have are worth less than the debts they owe, then can be the best course of action for the family members who survive them NOT to do anything with the estate. Please note, however: If you really want to know what you may need to do, you should consult an attorney. This forum is not a substitute for an actual consultation with an attorney, because no one in this forum can actually ask you the questions and get the information needed to be sure that they are giving you the right advice. But it is possible that you may not need to open your daughter's estate. Best wishes to you.... Read More

Yes, you must publish the Notice to Debtors and Creditors. That should have been done before you paid the expenses, debts, etc, and you MUST publish it before you make any final distributions, without regard to what your accountant told you. The notice is required by Georgia law. You will publish the Notice in the legal newspaper for Fayette County Georgia. Ask the probate court if you don't know what newspaper that is. The Notice runs once a week for 4 consecutive weeks. After the 4th publication date, there is a 3 month period where creditors who you may not have known about have to make themselves known. Please note, however: If an unknown creditor shows up later, then you still have to make sure they get paid before beneficiaries get paid- the creditor loses its place in line with regard to other creditors if it notifies you of its existence after the claims period is over, but it does not lose its place in line before beneficiaries of the estate.... Read More

If only a life estate was actually sold, then the deed to the property that sold the life estate should state that. If it doesn't, it may mean that more than a life estate was actually sold. Or there may have been a subsequent transaction that transferred the remainder interest. You likely need to get a title search done in order to determine how the property title actually passed and who holds rights in the property right now. Consult a real estate attorney for help with that. Please also note: I changed the practice area on your question to Real Estate, because this is not a Wills and Probate related question.... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your parents.   As for your question, yes, you could potentiall sue your brother as executor for failing to carry out his fiduciary duties. Based on your post, I can't actually tell you whether or not he HAS failed to carry out his fiduciary duties, but I certainly can tell you that you are entitled to hire an attorney to represent your interests in the estate and to ask for information. If it appears at that point that your brother is not doing his job correctly, then you and your attorney can petition the probate court to get him to provide an accounting or even possibly to have him removed and a new executor appointed. Hire an attorney who works with contested estates- generally you will want someone who can handle fiduciary litigation if needed, not just probate work.   A couple of side notes on your post: Your brother's attorney is not supposed to communicate with you, in general, so please don't take a lack of communication from your brother's attorney as a bad sign. Your brother's attorney represents him as Executor, not you as an heir or beneficiary, and he is not allowed to give you legal advice. That means in most cases the executor for the attorney will not do a lot of communicating with the beneficiaries. If you want legal advice, you are supposed to hire your own attorney. Also: an executor would not normally be in charge of distributing IRAs if the IRAs have designated beneficiaries. The IRA custodians generally communicate directly with the beneficiaries. The only time an executor would get involved with an IRA is if the estate was the beneficiary (not a good result, but it does happen). If the estate is the beneficiary of an IRA, then there's a lot of income tax consequences that have to be dealt with, and that can actually slow down the administration of the estate. And finally, 1 year and 3 months is not actually an overly long time for an estate administration, especially in the past 2 years.   So- go ahead and find an attorney who works with probate matters and fiduciary litigation. Have the attorney find out more about what's going on and advise you whether there is anything that it appears you should be concerned about, and then, if so, have the attorney advise you as to what steps you should consider taking next. Best wishes to you; I hope your family is able to get the estate settled in the relatively near future and without litigation.      ... Read More

Why have you been paying property taxes on property you don't own?   Unfortunately, you may not be able3 to recoup what you've paid, at least not easily. You will need to figure out who owns the property. That is not at all clear from your post, and you may need to have a real estate attorney do a title search. You may also find out that the property has many, many owners, each of whom received their share from a deceased prior owner and that title is not clear. If you can figure out who owns the property, then you can try to sue the owners to recover the amounts that you paid. If you are an owner yourself, then you won't be able to fully recover, because part of the payments will likely be your responsibility, but you can still try to recover the other owners' shares. But if you did not have a written agreement with the other owners under which you would pay the taxes and get reimbursed, you may well be deemed by a jury in a lawsuit to have made a gift by paying the taxes.   You need to get a real estate attorney involved, and possibly a probate attorney as well. Don't wait, and don't just keep paying these expenses. Best wishes to you- I hope you can get things figured out and get repaid.  ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your wife. As for your question, it sounds like you are an heir to your wife's estate even if you are not a beneficiary under her new Will. Yes, you will likely want to consult an attorney who is experienced with fiduciary litigation and probate matters. You have rights and interests with regard to the estate and the best way to make sure that you protect those is to have an attorney advise you.  ... Read More

If you are filing a claim in a Georgia court, then your attorney ideally needs to be licensed to practice in Georgia. The attorney can live in Alabama or South Carolina, as long as they are licensed in Georgia and are willing to work in the Georgia court. You may want to contact attorneys who live and work near the Georgia border with Alabama (or South Carolina) and see if you can find someone licensed in both states. It's not uncommon for attorneys who live near a state line to be licensed on both sides of it.  ... Read More

Fees vary greatly from attorney to attorney. Many estate planning attorneys provide a fixed fee for estate planning services such as drafting Wills. However, in our firm, and likely in many others, the fixed fee itself depends on exactly how the documents will be structured. For this reason, while you can often call an attorney's office and find out what the fixed fee range may be and how fees work, in many cases to get an actual quote you will need to have an estate planning consultation, at which the attorney can learn more about what your needs and wishes are and help you develop a plan that will include a set of documents. The attorney can then give you an exact fee.   For various reasons, my firm does not post its fees in a public forum. However, you are welcome to call my office and ask our office administrator about the process, our fee ranges, etc. You are also welcome to schedule an estate planning consultation, if you wish. We do not charge for the consultation, and there is no obligation to proceed with any work. But having a consultation is the only way I could give you an exact proposed fee.   Best wishes to you.  ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your ex and please provide your son with my condolences on the loss of his father.   As for your question, your ex was legally entitled to leave assets to whomever he wished (I'm assuming he was a Georgia resident, but this statement is generally true anywhere in the US), as long as his Will was valid. If you believe that there are strong grounds to believe that the Will was not valid for some reason, then your son, as one of the heirs (along with your ex's current spouse and any other children who he may have had via birth or legal adoption) does have the right to try to challenge the Will. However, whether you can bring that challenge on his behalf is a somewhat different question. To do so legally, you would need to have the legal power to represent your son. You may have that power if he is under 18, or if he is legally incapacitated and you have been legally appointed as his guardian or conservator, or if he has signed a power of attorney that gives you that legal authority. But without knowing more about the actual facts of your son's situation, no one will be able to advise you as to whether or not you can sue on his behalf. You will need to get a consultation with a fiduciary litigation attorney in order to find out what options your son may have to make a Will challenge and what ability you might have to help with that challenge.   On a related note, if your son is under 18, then he has the right under Georgia law to file a Petition for Year's Support and ask for assets from his father's probate estate no matter what the Will says. This may give hiim the ability to receive more than he would otherwises. However, this is again something for which he will need to seek the help of a fiduciary litigation attorney. And timiing may be critical if he is near 18, because the Petitioin MUST be filed before his 18th birthday.   So, get a consultation for your son with a fiduciary litigation attorney. Soon. The attorney can help your son consider his options and the likely costs and risks of bringing a challenge or filing a Year's Support claim. The attorney can also help you determine what steps, if any, you can take on your son's behalf. Best wishes to you.  ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your spouse. As for your question, you really shouldn't so much "rewrite" a Will as just do a new one. Unless you have some kind of irrevocable trust planning in place, you should be free to do new estate planning documents. Find an estate planning attorney and schedule a consultation. The attorney can help you consider your situation and your wishes, and can then help you develop an estate plan that reflects those and fits you. Ideally, that would mean a new Will, a Power of Attorney, and an Advance Directive for Health Care, to make sure that you have documents in place that will allow someone to help you if you ever become incapacitated as well as a Will that provides for the management and distribution of your probate assets after your death. The attorney should also review beneficiary designations with you, to make sure that those items are coordinated with the rest of your planning.  ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your spouse. As for your question, you really shouldn't so much "rewrite" a Will as just do a new one. Unless you have some kind of irrevocable trust planning in place, you should be free to do new estate planning documents. Find an estate planning attorney and schedule a consultation. The attorney can help you consider your situation and your wishes, and can then help you develop an estate plan that reflects those and fits you. Ideally, that would mean a new Will, a Power of Attorney, and an Advance Directive for Health Care, to make sure that you have documents in place that will allow someone to help you if you ever become incapacitated as well as a Will that provides for the management and distribution of your probate assets after your death. The attorney should also review beneficiary designations with you, to make sure that those items are coordinated with the rest of your planning.  ... Read More

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking, because it looks like there may be a typo in your post. However, since you mention that your mother lives with you and has dementia, I am going to assume that you're asking how you can help manage her affairs if and when she begins to need that help.   If your mother is still relatively competent, even though she has a dementia diagnosis, what she ideally needs to do is get good estate planning documents in place. Those should include a Will, a Power of Attorney, and an Advance Directive for Health Care. Using the Power of Attorney and the Advance Directive for Health Care, she can name you (or someone else) as her agent for financial and medical decision making. These documents should allow yout to help her with whatever she needs help with if her condition gets worse. She may also want to create a revocable trust for herself, and name you or someone else as a Trustee. Having a revocable trust can be another way to ensure that someone can help you with your finances if needed. Please note, however: YOU can't do any estate planning for your mother. She needs to do it for herself.   If your mother is no longer able, or is not willing, to do appropriate estate planning and name agents who can help with her needs, then unfortunately you may eventually need to get appointed as a guardian (for health care) and conservator (for finances) for her. Those roles are ones to which you must be appointed by a court. You would need to hire an attorney to help you file the appropriate petitions. Contact an attorney who does guardianship and conservatorship work if you think you may need to go this route.   Best wishet to you and your mother.  ... Read More

If anyone who does not receive an interest in your home is living there at the time of your death, then the Executor of the estate or the beneficiaries of the home will eventually be able (and likely willing) to make that person move out, whether he's your stepson or someone else. If you don't want this to happen, and if you want to provide some protection for your stepson after your death, then you should address those wishes in your estate planning. There are options. Contact an experienced estate planning attorney to discuss them.   Best wishes to you.  ... Read More

You don't actually file a claim in the probate court in Georgia during a probate anyhow, although you can provide the court with a copy of your claim. All you do to file a claim in a probate matter in Georgia is provide notice to the Executor or Administrator of the estate, if there is one. If there is not an open estate, then you need to try to figure out who the most appropriate person to receive notice will be and send notice of the claim to that person. That's about all you can do.   If your case, if you have a last known address for your attorney, you may want to send the notice to that address. If you can find any alternate addresses (check with the State Bar Association), you should also send notices to those addresses as well. Try to use a delivery method that requires a signature so that you have some proof that someone received your notice.   Best wishes to you.... Read More

Yes, but you must demonstrate to the satisfaction of USCIS that it should accept your application sooner.  Normally, this is done by filing and securing a divorce order, but there may be other options best discussed at a consultation with a competent and experienced immigration attorney.... Read More

A lot depends on the type of trust and the purpose for which it is created. If your mother created an irrevocable trust 20 years ago and was trying to keep the assets held by the trust out of her estate for estate tax purposes, then no, she should not have been the trustee of that trust or a beneficiary, because if she were it could defeat the estate tax sheltering purpose of the trust. However, if she was setting up a revocable trust for other estate planning purposes, and she was to be the main beneficiary of the trust during her lifetime, then she definitely could have been her own trustee without it creating any kind of legal or tax problems. As for her then-attorney's statements that a beneficiary of a trust could not be the trustee- that's not really true, and it wasn't true 20 years ago, but it was the more conservative way to plan. If a beneficiary of a trust is also the trustee of the trust, then the beneficiary's ability to handle the trust and make distributions to the beneficiary or his own dependents needs to have certain limits placed on it (I don't have nearly enough room here to detail all of that) OR the trust will effectively end up treated as if it were the beneficiary's own property for various purposes, including estate taxes, income taxes, and creditor protection purposes. But with the right limits in place, yes, a beneficiary can be trustee of his own trust and still accomplish many of the benefits the trust might be intended to provide. However, if creditor protection is really critical, it may be desirable for the beneficiary not to be his own trustee, and in some cases, such as one where the beneficiary is disabled or needs protection from himself for some reason, then you would not want the beneficiary to be his or her own trustee.   The rules have not changed in this regard in the past 20 years. But your mother's old attorney may have been much more conservative (or perhaps not as well-informed) as her new attorney. She could also be misremembering his advice.    Trust laws do vary from state to state, although there is a trend towards making them more standard, but the rules I've discussed above generally aren't that different from state to state.  ... Read More