---
title: O.C.G.A. § 53-4-44. Destruction or obliteration of will or material portion thereof.
collection: code
id: 53-4-44
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 53-4-44 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-4-44
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-4-44.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-4-44/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t52-t53-(v40)-2021-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=d23ba203_0#page=388
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.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-4.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-4-43.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-4-45.md
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: WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES / WILLS / REVOCATION AND REPUBLICATION
---

# O.C.G.A. § 53-4-44. Destruction or obliteration of will or material portion thereof.

An express revocation may be effected by any destruction or obliteration of the will done by the testator with an intent to revoke or by another at the testator’s direction. The intent to revoke shall be presumed from the obliteration or cancellation of a material portion of the will, but such presumption may be overcome by a preponderance of the evidence.

## History

Code 1981, § 53-4-44, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1586, § 15.

## Law Reviews

For article surveying developments in Georgia wills, trusts, and administration of estates law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 307 (1981). For article, ‘‘Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates,’’ see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 499 (2001). For annual survey of law on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 365 (2010).