---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-6-66. Preference for vested remainders; construction of words of survivorship in wills.
collection: code
id: 44-6-66
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-6-66 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-6-66
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-6-66.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-6-66/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch1-7-(v31)-2010-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=35dd922f_0#page=651
date: 2025
status: active
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publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / ESTATES / REMAINDERS AND REVERSIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-6-66. Preference for vested remainders; construction of words of survivorship in wills.

The law favors the vesting of remainders in all cases of doubt. In construing wills, words of survivorship shall refer to those survivors living at the time of the death of the testator in order to vest remainders unless a manifest intention to the contrary shall appear.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2251; Code 1868, § 2243; Code 1873, § 2269; Code 1882, § 2269; Civil Code 1895, § 3104; Civil Code 1910, § 3680; Code 1933, § 85-708.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Descendible Future Interests in Georgia: The Effect of the Preference for Early Vesting,’’ see 7 Ga. L. Rev. 443 (1973). For annual survey article discussing wills, trusts, and administration of estates, see 51 Mercer L. Rev. 487 (1999).

For note discussing construction and interpretation of wills, see 1 Ga. L. Rev. 46 (1927).

For comment on Lanier v. Lanier, 218 Ga. 137, 126 S.E.2d 776 (1962), executory interests and the rule against perpetuities, see 14 Mercer L. Rev. 275 (1962). For comment on Burton v. Hicks, 220 Ga. 29, 136 S.E.2d 759 (1964), see 1 Ga. St. B.J. 361 (1965).