Georgia

Georgia's Probate Court — one in each county — has exclusive original jurisdiction over
wills and the administration of estates. It issues letters testamentary to the executor.
Georgia is distinctive in two ways that matter more than the paperwork.

Common form or solemn form — choose deliberately

• Common form is quick. No formal notice to the heirs is required, and the will is
  admitted. The catch: anyone can challenge it for four years afterwards, so the
  administration never becomes truly final.
• Solemn form requires every heir to be served and given the chance to object. It takes
  longer at the start, and once the court's order is entered it is binding on everyone who
  received notice.

Nearly all competently handled Georgia estates use solemn form. The four years of exposure
that common form leaves behind is rarely worth the fortnight it saves.

Year's support outranks almost everything

This is the Georgia doctrine that surprises out-of-state executors. A surviving spouse and
any minor children may petition the Probate Court for property sufficient to support them
for twelve months after the death. The award sits at the very top of the priority ladder —
above funeral expenses, above administration costs, and above the creditors — and it can
override specific gifts in the will. The petition must generally be brought within 24 months
of death. An executor who distributes without considering it is exposed.

Wills that waive the machinery

A Georgia will can relieve the executor from bond, inventory and annual returns, and most
do. It makes administration markedly lighter, so check the will before assuming any of those
filings are required.

No state death tax

Georgia has neither an estate nor an inheritance tax; only the federal return can arise.

A Georgia will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by another at their
direction), and attested by two competent witnesses who sign in the testator's presence.
Both the testator and the witnesses must be 14 or older — one of the lowest thresholds in
the country, and a genuine peculiarity of Georgia law.

Georgia does not recognise holographic wills

A will written entirely by hand and left unwitnessed is not valid in Georgia. Handwriting
gets you nothing on its own; the two witnesses are the requirement. A handwritten document
that is properly witnessed is perfectly valid — the ink is irrelevant, the witnesses are not.

Make it self-proving

Attach a self-proving affidavit executed before a notary at the same time as the will. In
Georgia this matters more than average, because solemn form probate otherwise requires the
testimony of all the witnesses who are alive and within the court's jurisdiction. A
self-proving affidavit removes the need to find them years later.

Say what you want waived

Expressly relieve the executor from bond, inventory and annual returns, and grant them the
powers in the statutory list. This single paragraph is the difference between a light
administration and a heavily supervised one.

Year's support cannot be drafted away

A surviving spouse and minor children can claim year's support from the estate regardless
of what the will says, and it ranks ahead of the beneficiaries. If provision for a second
spouse is a live question, address it deliberately rather than hoping the will settles it.

Also

• Name an alternate executor.
• Review after a marriage, divorce, birth or a move to Georgia. Georgia has no elective share
  for a spouse in the way most states do — year's support does that work instead, which makes
  getting the will right more important, not less.

Yes, and Georgia sets a default by statute for when the will is silent.

The statutory commission

Under O.C.G.A. § 53-6-60, where compensation is not fixed by the will or a separate written
agreement, the personal representative is entitled to:

• 2.5% of all sums of money received on account of the estate, and
• 2.5% of all sums of money paid out, whether for debts, legacies or distributive shares.

Money the representative lends to the estate and is repaid is excluded from the calculation.

In practice, because most money that comes into an estate also goes out of it, the two halves
together commonly work out near 5% of the cash passing through the administration —
though it is two separate 2.5% commissions on two separate events, not a single 5% fee, and
describing it as "5%" to a beneficiary invites an argument.

Assets that are never converted to cash

The commission is calculated on money received and paid out. Property transferred in specie
to a beneficiary — a house handed over rather than sold — does not generate a cash commission,
so an executor may need to seek additional compensation from the court for handling it.

If the will sets the figure

The will governs, and Georgia wills very often do fix compensation. Check before assuming the
statutory default applies.

How it is approved

Claimed on the executor's returns or final settlement, subject to the beneficiaries' objection
and the Probate Court's review. Where the will waives annual returns, agree the figure with the
beneficiaries in writing instead.

Tax

Commission is taxable income; an inheritance is not.

A Georgia executor is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses of
administering it, separately from the statutory commission.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, the headstone, and a reasonable reception. Note that year's
  support ranks ahead even of funeral expenses in Georgia, so on a thin estate the order of
  payment matters.
• Probate Court filing fees, certified letters testamentary, certified death certificates, and
  newspaper publication of the notice to debtors and creditors.
• Attorney's fees, particularly for solemn form probate and service on the heirs.
• Accountant's fees, and preparation of the final Form 1040 and any Form 1041.
• Appraisals of real property, farmland, timber, vehicles, firearms and collections.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: insurance, county property tax, utilities,
  security, maintenance, lawn care and pest control.
• Cleaning, clearing, storing, moving and shipping contents.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate.
• Bond premiums, where the will did not waive bond.

Normally not claimable

• The executor's lost wages, meals near home, or personal spending — that is what the
  commission covers.
• Costs run up for one beneficiary's convenience rather than the estate's.
• Improvements beyond preparing a property for sale as it stands.
• Anything without a receipt.

The rule that decides it

Open an estate bank account and run every dollar through it. Because Georgia's commission
is calculated on sums received and sums paid out, a clean bank record does double duty: it
evidences the expenses and it is the arithmetic your commission is built from. Where the will
has waived annual returns, that account is the only record anyone will have.

Most Georgia estates are administered by a family member, and a will that waives bond,
inventory and returns makes that genuinely light work. A bank trust department or an attorney
serving as executor earns its cost in specific situations.

Consider a professional when

• A year's support petition is likely and contested. It outranks the creditors and the
  beneficiaries, it can override gifts in the will, and an executor caught between a second
  spouse and adult children from a first marriage is in an unenviable position.
• A will contest looks possible. This also drives the choice between common and solemn form
  — and solemn form, with service on every heir, is where a professional pays for itself.
• The estate holds an operating business, farmland or timber. Timber valuation in
  particular is specialised and easy to get wrong.
• A beneficiary is a minor, since Georgia's Probate Court also handles guardianship of a
  minor's property and will supervise accordingly.
• The named executor lives out of state and cannot readily attend the county Probate Court.

What it costs

Corporate fiduciaries charge a negotiated percentage, usually referenced to the statutory
2.5%-in and 2.5%-out commission, often with a minimum annual fee. Attorneys typically bill
hourly. Ask for either in writing.

Middle ground

Appoint a family member, have the will waive bond, inventory and returns, and let them
retain a probate attorney at the estate's expense to handle solemn form probate and the
publication requirements. For most Georgia estates that combination is both the cheapest and
the most robust.

A named executor who does not want the job can decline before qualifying. Once they have
qualified, resigning requires the Probate Court's leave and an accounting.