QUESTION
How is an estate distributed in GA if you didn't have a will?
Asked on May 17th, 2016 on Wills and Probate - Georgia
More details to this question:
This man had no children and was predeceased by his wife and and four siblings. Two of his siblings are still living. Does the estate go to just the two living siblings or does some go to the children of the deceased siblings?
2 ANSWERS
Probate Litigation Attorney serving Lawrenceville, GA
at
Robert W. Hughes & Associates, P.C.
Update Your Profile
In Georgia, if you die unmarried and without children, your estate goes to your parents if they are alive. If they are deceased, then your estate goes to yoru siblings. If they are deceased, but have children, then each siblings share will pass to the sibling's children in equal shares. So, in your case, given that there were four siblings, each sibling gets 1/4 of the estate. If a sibling is predeceased, then that sibling's share will go to his children equally.
Answered on May 18th, 2016 at 7:01 AM
4 Awards
In Georgia, if a deceased person has no surviving spouse or descendant (children or descendants of children), then his parents will receive his probate estate (after the payment of debts, administrative expenses, and taxes), if either or both of his parents survive him. If neither parent survives, then the siblings receive equal shares of the net probate estate. In this case, each living sibling will receive a share, and a share will be created for each deceased sibling who has at least one living child or other descendant. The living siblings will take their shares, and each share created for a deceased sibling will be distributed to that sibling's children, in equal shares. If a deceased sibling has a deceased child, and that deceased child has children, the deceased child's share is also divided among that child's children in the same way.
Answered on May 18th, 2016 at 5:27 AM
This answer is being provided as general information and not as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by this answer.