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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 53. WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES · Chapter 4. WILLS · Article 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

53-4-5. Written statement or list disposing of items of tangible personal property; utilization.

Active

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

  1. (a)

    A written statement or list meeting the requirements of subsection (b) of this Code section shall dispose of items of tangible personal property, other than money, not otherwise specifically disposed of by the testator’s will. If more than one otherwise effective writing exists, then, to the extent of any conflict among the writings, the provisions of a more recent writing revoke the inconsistent provisions of each prior writing.#

  2. (b)

    A written statement or list meets the requirements of this subsection if such writing:#

    1. (1)

      Is signed and dated by the testator;#

    2. (2)

      Describes the items and the recipients thereof with reasonable certainty; and#

    3. (3)

      Is referred to in the testator’s will.#

    4. The writing may be referred to as one to be in existence at the time of the testator’s death; it may be prepared before or after the execution of the will; it may be altered by the testator after its preparation, provided that it is signed and dated on the date of such alteration; and it may be a writing that has no significance apart from its effect on the dispositions made by the will.

  3. (c)

    A written statement or list meeting the requirements of subsection (b) of this Code section shall not be deemed to be the testator’s will or a part of such testator’s will.#

Reading note: a word broken across two lines in the printed volume was joined by rule and could not be checked against the volume's own vocabulary. The official page linked below settles any doubt.

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, § 53-4-5, enacted by Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 1-13/HB 865; Ga. L. 2025, p. 806, § 50/HB 327, effective July 1, 2025.

Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, substituted “recipients thereof” for “beneficiaries” in paragraph (b)(2); and added subsection (c).

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 53 to 54; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 d9d2be0e71ce.