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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 53. WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES · Chapter 4. WILLS · Article 3. EXECUTION AND ATTESTATION

53-4-20. Required writing; signing; witnesses; codicil.

Active

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

  1. (a)

    A will shall be in writing and shall be signed by the testator or by some other individual in the testator’s presence and at the testator’s express direction. A testator may sign by mark or by any name that is intended to authenticate the instrument as the testator’s will.#

  2. (b)

    A will shall be attested and subscribed in the presence of the testator by two or more competent witnesses. A witness to a will may attest by mark. Another individual may not subscribe the name of a witness, even in that witness’s presence and at that witness’s direction.#

  3. (c)

    A codicil shall be executed by the testator and attested and subscribed by witnesses with the same formality as a will.#

  4. (d)

    A will or codicil that was executed or attested pursuant to the authority of the Governor’s Executive Order 04.09.20.01 shall not be treated as invalid solely because it was not executed or attested in the testator’s physical presence.#

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

Code 1981, § 53-4-20, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 2025, p. 806, § 51/HB 327, effective July 1, 2025.

Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, added subsection (d).

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 t52-t53-(v40)-pdf.pdf, Volume V40, 2021 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 54 to 55; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 d9d2be0e71ce.