Skip to content
Georgia Commons
Menu

Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 51. TORTS · Chapter 4. WRONGFUL DEATH

51-4-5. Recovery by personal representative for wrongful death and for certain expenses.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    When there is no person entitled to bring an action for the wrongful death of a decedent under Code Section 51-4-2 or 51-4-4, the administrator or executor of the decedent may bring an action for and may recover and hold the amount recovered for the benefit of the next of kin. In any such case the amount of the recovery shall be the full value of the life of the decedent.#

  2. (b)

    When death of a human being results from a crime or from criminal or other negligence, the personal representative of the deceased person shall be entitled to recover for the funeral, medical, and other necessary expenses resulting from the injury and death of the deceased person.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Ga. L. 1924, p. 60, § 1; Code 1933, §§ 105-1309, 105-1310; Ga. L. 1952, p. 245, § 1; Ga. L. 1969, p. 762, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1154, § 3; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1253, § 3.

Law reviews

For article surveying torts law, see 34 Mercer L. Rev. 271 (1982). For survey article on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 59 Mercer L. Rev. 447 (2007). For note, ‘‘Piercing the Marital Veil: Interspousal Tort Immunity After Harris v. Harris,’’ see 36 Mercer L. Rev. 1013 (1985).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t51-(v39)-2017-pdf.pdf, Volume V39, 2017 edition, pages 509 to 510; merge action: annotated; file SHA-256 bc30a40687b2.