---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-6-83. Rights and duties of life tenant; forfeiture of interest to remainderman.
collection: code
id: 44-6-83
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-6-83 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-6-83
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-6-83.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-6-83/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=665
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / ESTATES / LIFE ESTATES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-6-83. Rights and duties of life tenant; forfeiture of interest to remainderman.

The tenant for life shall be entitled to the full use and enjoyment of the property if in such use he exercises the ordinary care of a prudent man for its preservation and protection and commits no acts which would permanently injure the remainder or reversion interest. For the want of such care or the willful commission of such acts, the tenant for life shall forfeit his interest to the remainderman if the remainderman elects to claim immediate possession.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2235; Code 1868, § 2229; Code 1873, § 2255; Code 1882, § 2255; Civil Code 1895, § 3090; Civil Code 1910, § 3666; Code 1933, § 85-604.

## Law Reviews

For article surveying recent legislative and judicial developments in Georgia’s real property laws, see 31 Mercer L. Rev. 187 (1979).

For comment on Graham v. Bryant, 211 Ga. 856, 89 S.E.2d 640 (1955), see 19 Ga. B.J. 362 (1957).