Georgia Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your husband.   You do not have to wait for your stepdaughter to offer your husband's Will for probate. You could either file a Petition to Probate the Will yourself, if she won't do it, or file a Petition for Year's Support against the estate. You could also file with the court asking that the court compel her to produce the Will. You have a number of options.   You really need to get an attorney to helpl you, ideally; preferably one who deals with contested estates as well as regular probate matters. But get started soon. Timing can be critical. Best wishes to you.  ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your husband.   You do not have to wait for your stepdaughter to offer your husband's Will for probate. You could either file a Petition to Probate the Will yourself, if she won't do it, or file a Petition for Year's Support against the estate. You could also file with the court asking that the court compel her to produce the Will. You have a number of options.   You really need to get an attorney to helpl you, ideally; preferably one who deals with contested estates as well as regular probate matters. But get started soon. Timing can be critical. Best wishes to you.    ... Read More

Assuming there is no will, then the land should have been distributed to your grandmother’s spouse, if living at the time of her death, and to her children living at the time of her death. Children who died, but have children, will have that child’s share distributed to the deceased child’s children.  ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your mother.   As for your question, unfortunately it can be difficult to find a Will sometimes, if the person who made it was not careful (or was too careful) about whether she kept it. Here's about the best thing you can do to try to find out if a person had a Will or not: 1. Do as thorough a search as possible of the person's home, car, any safe deposit box, and any storage units- anywhere she may have kept anything, especially sensitive documents. Go through everything with a fine-toothed comb. Don't just look for a Will- look for cards or other info for attorneys or any other evidence that she may have worked with an attorney on a Will, look for drafts, etc. If you find an attorney's info, call the attorney's office and ask if they may have worked with your mother and that you are trying to find her Will after her death.   2. Contact the probate court for any county your mother lived in or previously lived in. When you call, do not simply ask if a Will is on file for your mother. Ask very specifically whether any Will was filed "for safekeeping" for your mother. If you just ask whether a Will was filed, the courts may not think to look in the safekeeping records and may overlook those.   3. If after taking the first two steps you still don't have a Will, then you can likely assume that your mother did not have a Will. That is possible- I have seen and heard of people who spoke of having Wills many times during their liives but then turned out not to have any. People do not always carry through on their intentions. Best wishes to you and your family.... Read More

That depends on whether there interests are in conflict.   If their interests are aligned, yes.  For example, if they were charged in the same altercation and both claim that the other guy attacked them and that they acted together in self-defense. If each is going to be blaming the other, no. ... Read More

I am sorry to hear about your situation. However, this is not a Wills and Probate question, so I have changed your practice area in hope of getting your question to attorneys who can help you answer it better than I can. In general, if your ex wife is the owner of the home, and you just live with her, but you and she don't have any written agreements, she may need to take formal steps to evict you, and you may have some rights as a tenant, but you likely don't have a lot of rights. If you gave her money to make repairs and improvements to the property and you and she did not have any written documents in place to state what the money was for or the terms under which you gave it to her, those were gifts by you to her and don't give you any rights to the property. The fact that you've paid her to live there also does not give you any rights to the property other than as a tenant. And any amounts that you may have paid for her daughter or her grandson are also likely gifts and don't give you any rights unless you have a written contract that says the amounts were to be loans to your ex. You should consult an attorney who helps tenants with evictions if you want to make sure you are legally protected as much as possible. If you do have anything in writing about any of the payments you've made over the years, be sure and show them to the attorney. Best wishes to you.... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your mother and the loss of your sister.   As for your question: If your caveat fails and the Will produced by your sister is admitted to probate, then the Will she produced will likely be admitted to probate with a successor Executor appointed in her place, and the effect of your sister's death on how your mother's estate is distributed would be dealt with as that Will provides, if it makes any provision in that regard. But unless the next nominated Executor decides to withdraw your sister's Petition to Probate the Will, your sister's death would likely not cause the court to throw out the entire petition.   Wills do frequently contain provisions that are designed to deal with a situation where a beneficiary dies after the person who wrote the Will. For example, if a Will requires that a beneficiary survive the person who wrote the Will by a certain minimum period of time, such as 90 days, and that beneficiary survives the person who wrote the Will by at least that long but then dies after that, the beneficiary's estate will often end up receiving the property that beneficiary would have received. The property would then be subject to the beneficiary's Will (or state law, if the beneficiary had no Will). But, if a Will requires that a beneficiary survive by a certain period of time and the beneficiary does not make it that long, the Will would generally provide for an alternative disposition of that beneficiary's share. For example, in my firm's Will it is often the case that, if a child does not survive her parent by at least 90 days, the share that the child would have received if she survived at least the 90 days will instead pass to her children, if her children survive the person who wrote the Will by at least 90 days. That said, I have seen Wills that don't deal well, or at all, with cases where a beneficiary dies. Without seeing the Will your sister claimed to be your mother's, I have no way to tell what it might do.   If you are working with an attorney on your caveat, you should ask your attorney what happens next. If you don't have an attorney, you should really consider consulting an attorney who works on estate litigation- having someone who knows what they are doing can be extremely helpful in a disputed estate.   Best wishes to you.... Read More

I am sorry to hear about the problems with your father in law. It definitely sounds like you were the victim of a criminal action if he deliberately tried to hit you with a riding lawn mower. I am not sure why the police didn't arrest him. However, this is not an estate planning question, and my area of expertise is estate planning, so I am not sure what else to tell you. You may want to consult a family law attorney or a personal injury attorney to find out if there are other ways to protect yourself and your wife from your father in law. Best wishes to you.... Read More

You need to adversely possess the property, but without exclusive and adverse possession for 17 years, you don't have any rights. You probably should try to buy it at a tax sale.  You will pay an auction price rather than just the taxes, but you can own it a year after you buy it that way.... Read More

You may want to consider hiring a lawyer to send a Cease and Desist letter.  While a cease-and-desist letter has little legal impact, the lawyer's letterhead gets the recipient’s attention. This is a relatively inexpensive way to put the person on notice that you are not going to let these actions continue and that you are serious about pursuing your legal remedies.  It also tells the person that they could get in legal hot water which will cost them a lot of legal fees if nothing else.  This will often convince them to stop their evil ways.  ... Read More

Unfortunately, when your mother gave your sister and your sister's husband money with no contact and no interest in the home they purchased, she made a gift to them and did not retain any legal control. They can sell the house (or lose it in foreclosure) and she is out of luck. This is one reason why I tend to recommend to my clients that they not put their children's names on assets that they need for their own well-being, like a house: It puts the clients at risk of their children's problems. I am sorry for your mother's situation. Hopefully your sister and her husband will be able to live up to the moral obligation that they have incurred and will still be able to ensure that she has a place to live.... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your parents. As for your question, it's not really a probate question; it's a real estate title question. However, it is sort of related to probate.   You appear to state in your post that the real estate attorney told you that, because your mother owned an interest in the property, you need all of your siblings to sign off before the property can be sold. That makes me think that (1) your mother did not have a Will (even though your father did); (2) that your parents owned the property jointly, but as tenants in common and not as joint tenants with rights of survivorship; (3) that your father did not take any steps after your mother's death to make a claim for year's support or to otherwise have her interest in the property transferred to him (He may, like many people, have incorrectly assumed that because the property was jointly owned, he did not need to do anything); and (4) that your father therefore received 1/3 of your mother's interest while her children (all 6 of you) received the other 2/3 of her share. If my assumptions are true, then (A) your mother's 1/2 of the property passed to her heirs under GA intestacy law, and (B) your father received 1/3 of her 1/2 and the 6 kids received the other 2/3 of  her 1/2 . Since your father would already have owned his 1/2, that would mean his estate (with you as Executor) only owns 1/2 + 1/3 (or 4/6)  of the property at his death, and you and your 5 siblings collectively own the other 2/6 of the property directly. So, if my assumptions are correct, then you, as Executor of your father's estate, cannot sell the property by yourself, because his estate does not own 100% of the property. You can get a second opinion from a different real estate attorney, if you want. However, it's entirely possible that your father just made a mistaken assumption about how the property would pass at your mother's death and that as a result he did not become the sole owner of the property.... Read More

Based on your daughters age and your relationship to her, she will not qualify to be sponsored by you in the immediate relative category. Thus If she falls out of status while she's here, when the visa becomes available, she will not be able to qualify for sponsorship to get lawful permanent residence.... Read More

Although it is possible that GA law is different, there would be no legal requirement as to how long you must refrain from selling property after accepting a deposit.  It depends on what the contracting parties agree on.  Did you agree with the owner that he would hold the camper for a specified period of time?  If this term was not discussed, the law will generlaly imply a reasonable amount of time, but "reasonable" depends on the circumstances.... Read More

  If and when your priority date becomes current under the Department of State monthly visa bulletin, you can file for adjustment of status on form I-485. There are two monthly charts – “filing dates” and “final action dates”. USCIS determines which chart can be used during each month for filing adjustment of status applications. So for example, if the filing dates chart has reached your priority date but not the final action dates chart and USCIS decides to go with final action dates for the month, you cannot file your adjustment of status application. Also of course, you must continue to maintain your legal nonimmigrant status to file form I-485 since you are not in an immediate relative category. 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

First, you cannot get a power of attorney over someone.  A competent person has the ability to appoint someone to be his power of attorney.  If Chris is not competent, he cannot appoint a power of attorney. You will need to judge whetherhe is competent.  If he is incompetent, he cannot appoint a power of attorney.  In that case, you would need to apply for guardianship over him. ... Read More

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your grandfather. In order to find out what, if anything, has been filed in a probate court in Georgia, you can contact the court directly and ask them what you need to send in order to get a copy of the file. You will need to contact the probate court for the Georgia county in which your grandfather had his main residence, give them his name and the date of his death, and ask them if there is a probate file open for him. If there is, then ask them how much it would be to get a copy of the file and what you need to do to request one. Once you get that, you'll know what was filed, if anything. If it looks like someone forged your name, then you need to contact an attorney who works with estate litigation in Georgia and find out more about your options for dealing with that issue. However, if your grandfather owned most or all of his assets either jointly with others, as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, or if there were beneficiary designations on assets that he did not own jointly with someone else, then there may not be any probate file, as probate may not have been needed. And, even if there was a probate, there could be substantial assets that were owned jointly under a right of survivorship or that passed to others under beneficiary designations. This means that a probate file by itself may not give you a complete picture of what he owned and how it passed. If you really think you may have been a beneficiary or an heir, and if you aren't sure that your rights are being protected, then hire an attorney who works with probate matters. The attorney can give you your options and help make sure that you find out as much as you can about whatever rights and interests you might have. Best wishes to you.... Read More

Yes.  The government, which would be prosecuting you, made no agreement not to.  However, depending on the circumstances (i.e. the amount of money involved, your record, etc.) and the fact that you paid the money back, there's a good chance that teh government won't want to prosecute, or if it does and you are convicted (difficult if your employer keeps his word and doesn't cooperate), may get a minimal sentence.  If your bosskeeps his/her word, the government may never hear about it.... Read More