Losing someone you love is hard enough. The grief, the emotional weight, the memories flooding back at unexpected moments. But when that person dies without leaving a will, you’re suddenly facing a maze of legal procedures on top of everything else. It’s a situation no one wants to be in, yet it happens more often than you’d think.
In Georgia, when someone passes away without a will—a situation legally called dying “intestate”—the state steps in with its own set of rules about who gets what. These aren’t arbitrary rules. They’re designed to distribute property in a way that lawmakers believe most people would want. But here’s the thing: they’re rigid, one-size-fits-all, and they might not reflect what your loved one actually wanted or what makes sense for your family.
If you’re dealing with this situation right now, or if you’re trying to understand what would happen to your own assets if something happened to you tomorrow, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know about Georgia’s intestate succession laws.
Understanding What Intestate Means
Let’s start with the basics. When we say someone died intestate, we’re simply saying they died without a valid will. It could be that they never got around to making one, or maybe they had a will that turned out to be invalid for some technical reason. Either way, the result is the same: Georgia law decides who inherits.
Now, it’s important to understand that not every single thing a person owns goes through this process. Georgia’s intestate succession laws only apply to what’s called the “probate estate.” These are assets that were owned solely by the deceased person without any special designations that would allow them to pass directly to someone else.
What falls outside the probate estate? Several things. Life insurance policies with named beneficiaries go directly to those beneficiaries. Bank accounts that are set up as payable-on-death accounts bypass probate entirely. Property owned in joint tenancy with right of survivorship automatically goes to the surviving owner. Assets held in a trust are distributed according to the trust terms, not intestate succession laws. So before you panic about everything going through intestate succession, make sure you understand which assets actually fall under these rules.
The laws governing all of this are found in the Georgia Probate Code. They establish a clear hierarchy of who inherits based on family relationships. It’s systematic, it’s predictable, and sometimes it’s exactly what causes problems.
The Step-by-Step Process of Handling an Estate Without a Will
When someone dies without a will in Georgia, you can’t just divide up their belongings and move on. There’s a legal process that must be followed, and it starts with the probate court.
Getting Started with Probate Court
The first move is filing a petition with the probate court in the county where your loved one lived. Yes, even without a will, you still need court involvement. Someone needs to be appointed as the administrator of the estate—essentially the person who will be responsible for managing everything.
Who gets to be the administrator? Georgia law has a priority list. The surviving spouse usually has the first right to serve. If there’s no spouse or they decline, the next of kin typically steps up. When multiple family members want the role, the court makes the final call. It’s worth noting that being an administrator is a significant responsibility, not an honor or privilege. You’re taking on legal duties and potential liability.
Taking Inventory and Valuing Assets
Once the court appoints an administrator, the real work begins. The administrator’s first major task is creating a complete inventory of everything the deceased person owned. We’re talking about real estate, bank accounts, vehicles, jewelry, furniture, stock portfolios, collectibles—anything of value that was in the deceased person’s name alone.
But listing items isn’t enough. Each asset needs to be properly valued. Real estate needs appraisals. Personal property needs fair market value assessments. Bank accounts need exact balances as of the date of death. This isn’t busywork. These valuations determine how the estate is divided and what taxes might be owed. Get them wrong, and you could face legal challenges from heirs or problems with the IRS.
Dealing with Debts and Creditors
Here’s something that surprises many people: before any heir receives a single dollar, the deceased person’s debts must be paid. Georgia law requires the administrator to notify creditors about the death and give them a chance to file claims against the estate.
Funeral expenses come first. Medical bills from the final illness need to be paid. Outstanding credit card debt, car loans, mortgages, taxes—all of it gets settled before distribution to heirs. The administrator has to review each claim to make sure it’s legitimate, then pay the valid ones. If there’s not enough money in the estate to cover all the debts, there’s a specific order of priority for which creditors get paid first.
Finally, Distributing What’s Left
Only after debts are paid does the administrator distribute remaining assets to heirs according to Georgia’s intestate succession laws. This is where the law’s rigid structure often clashes with family expectations.
Who Actually Gets What Under Georgia Law
Georgia’s intestacy laws create a hierarchy of heirs. The closer your relationship to the deceased, the more likely you are to inherit. But the details matter, and they can get complicated fast.
When There’s a Spouse and Children
This is where things get interesting. If your loved one left behind both a spouse and children, the estate doesn’t automatically go all to the spouse. Instead, it’s divided equally among the spouse and all the children. However, Georgia law ensures the spouse receives at least one-third of the estate no matter how many children there are.
Let’s say someone dies with a spouse and one child. The estate is split in half—50% to the spouse, 50% to the child. But if there are two children, it’s divided into thirds, with the spouse getting one-third and each child getting one-third. With three children, the spouse still gets one-third (the minimum allowed by law), and the three children split the remaining two-thirds, each receiving about 22%.
This equal treatment of spouse and children surprises many people. In some families, it works fine. In others, especially when there are minor children or when the surviving spouse needs the family home, it can create serious problems.
Spouse Alone
If the deceased had a spouse but no children, things are simpler. The surviving spouse inherits everything. No need to track down other relatives or divide anything up.
Children But No Spouse
When there are children but no surviving spouse, the children inherit everything in equal shares. This applies whether you have two children or ten. Each gets an equal portion.
But what if one of the children died before the parent? This is where “per stirpes” distribution comes in. If a deceased child left behind their own children (the decedent’s grandchildren), those grandchildren step into their parent’s shoes and inherit what their parent would have received. So if one child predeceased the parent but had two kids of their own, those two grandchildren would split their parent’s share.
No Spouse or Children
When there’s no surviving spouse or children, Georgia law looks to the next closest relatives. The order goes like this: parents inherit first. If the parents are deceased, siblings inherit (or their descendants if a sibling has died). If no siblings or their descendants exist, grandparents inherit. After that, it’s aunts and uncles, and then their descendants.
Keep going down this line far enough without finding any relatives, and the property eventually “escheats” to the State of Georgia. The state takes ownership. It’s rare, but it happens.
The Real-World Complications Nobody Talks About
The law on paper seems straightforward. But real families aren’t neat legal categories. They’re messy, complicated, and full of situations the law doesn’t handle well.
Blended Families Create Conflict
When someone has children from multiple marriages or relationships, intestate succession can trigger family warfare. Georgia law treats all children equally—biological, adopted, from the current marriage, or from previous relationships. Everyone gets the same share.
Imagine a second marriage where both spouses have children from previous relationships. If one spouse dies intestate, their biological children inherit alongside the surviving spouse. The stepchildren the deceased helped raise? They get nothing under intestacy laws. Meanwhile, adult children from a first marriage who had minimal contact with the deceased might inherit a substantial portion of assets, potentially including the family home where the surviving spouse lives.
These situations breed resentment. Adult children might feel entitled to their parent’s assets and push for the house to be sold so they can get their share in cash. A surviving spouse might feel betrayed that their stepchildren are cut out entirely. And children from earlier relationships might feel they’re finally getting what they deserved all along. It’s a recipe for family fractures that last for generations.
Unmarried Partners Have Zero Rights
Georgia doesn’t recognize common-law marriage. If you’ve been with someone for twenty years but never officially married, Georgia’s intestacy laws treat you as legal strangers. You inherit nothing. Zero. It doesn’t matter if you shared a home, raised children together, or built a life as a committed couple.
This harsh reality catches many unmarried couples off guard. One partner dies, and the other suddenly has no legal claim to shared property, no matter how long they were together or how intertwined their lives were. The deceased partner’s blood relatives inherit everything, and the surviving partner can be left with nothing—even forced out of a home they considered theirs.
Dividing Real Estate Gets Messy Fast
When the main asset is a house or land, intestate succession can create impossible situations. Let’s say three adult siblings inherit their parents’ home equally. Now what? Does someone buy out the others? Do they sell it and split the money? Do they try to keep it as shared property for family gatherings?
Each option has problems. Not everyone has the money to buy out siblings. Selling means losing the family home, which someone might desperately want to keep. Maintaining shared ownership often leads to disputes about who pays property taxes, who handles repairs, whether it can be rented out, and what happens if one sibling wants to sell but others don’t.
These disagreements can drag on for years, with the property sitting in legal limbo while siblings who once got along fine stop speaking to each other.
Finding Unknown Relatives Takes Time and Money
Sometimes a deceased person’s closest living relatives are people they never met or hadn’t seen in decades. Maybe it’s a second cousin twice removed who lives in another state. Finding these people requires investigation, sometimes even hiring professional genealogists or heir locators.
This process is time-consuming and expensive. The estate pays for it, which means less money eventually goes to the heirs. And once you find distant relatives, you have to convince them they’re actually entitled to inherit from someone they probably never knew.
Protecting Your Family from These Problems
Reading all this might feel overwhelming. The good news? You can avoid every single one of these complications by planning ahead.
Creating a will is the most straightforward solution. With a will, you decide who gets what. You can provide for an unmarried partner. You can give more to one child who needs it and less to another who’s already financially secure. You can leave your home to one person and other assets to someone else. You can even include explanations for your choices to reduce the chances of disputes.
But a will isn’t your only option. Trusts offer even more control and can help your estate avoid probate entirely. Payable-on-death designations on bank accounts ensure money goes directly to the people you choose. Naming beneficiaries on life insurance and retirement accounts takes those assets out of the probate process.
Maybe you’re thinking, “I’ll get to it eventually.” But here’s the truth: none of us know when “eventually” runs out. People die unexpectedly every day. Young, old, healthy, sick—death doesn’t follow a schedule. The question isn’t whether you need an estate plan. It’s whether you care enough about the people you’ll leave behind to spend a few hours and some money now to make their lives easier later.
When You Need Legal Help
If you’re currently dealing with an intestate estate in Georgia, trying to handle it alone is possible but risky. An experienced probate attorney can guide you through the process, help you avoid costly mistakes, and mediate family disputes before they explode into litigation.
Attorneys can petition the court on your behalf, ensure you’re complying with all legal requirements, identify strategies to minimize taxes, and help resolve disagreements among heirs. The cost of hiring an attorney often pales in comparison to the mistakes you might make without one.
And if you’re planning your own estate, an attorney can help you create a plan that actually accomplishes your goals. Generic online forms might be cheap, but they often miss nuances in Georgia law that could invalidate your entire plan or create unintended consequences.
Frequently Asked Questions
If my spouse and I own our home jointly, will it go through intestate succession if one of us dies?
No. Property owned in joint tenancy with right of survivorship automatically passes to the surviving owner when one dies, completely bypassing probate and intestate succession laws. This is true for real estate, bank accounts, and other jointly owned assets where survivorship rights are specified. However, if the property was owned as “tenants in common” rather than joint tenancy, the deceased person’s share would go through intestate succession. The difference in how the deed is written matters tremendously, so review your property documents carefully.
Can my unmarried partner inherit anything if I die without a will in Georgia?
Unfortunately, no. Georgia’s intestate succession laws only recognize legal relationships like marriage, blood relations, and adoption. Unmarried partners—regardless of how long you’ve been together or how committed your relationship—have no inheritance rights under intestate succession. If you want your partner to inherit, you must create a will or use other estate planning tools like naming them as a beneficiary on accounts or establishing a trust. This is one of the most important reasons for unmarried couples to have formal estate plans.
What happens if I’m named as the administrator but I don’t think I can handle it?
You’re not required to serve as administrator even if the court would appoint you under the priority rules. You can decline the role, and the court will appoint the next person in line according to Georgia’s priority order. Being an administrator involves real responsibilities—managing assets, paying debts, filing paperwork, potentially dealing with family conflicts—and it can be time-consuming and stressful during an already difficult period. If you don’t feel up to the task, it’s better to decline than to accept and then struggle with the duties. You can also petition to have a professional administrator or attorney appointed if no family member is willing or able to serve.
The information in this article is for educational purposes and shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Georgia’s intestate succession laws can be complex, especially when family situations are complicated. If you’re dealing with an intestate estate or planning your own estate, consult with a qualified Georgia probate attorney who can address your specific circumstances.
