Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 53. WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES · Chapter 4. WILLS · Article 6. CONSTRUCTION OF WILL; TESTAMENTARY GIFTS

53-4-55. Construction of wills; intention of testator.

Active

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

In the construction of all wills, the court shall seek diligently for the intention of the testator and shall give effect to such intention as far as it may be consistent with the rules of law. Provided the proof of intention is clear and convincing, the court may transpose sentences or clauses, change conjunctions, and supply or delete words in cases in which a sentence or clause as it stands is unintelligible or inoperative in context.

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, § 53-4-55, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10.

Law reviews

For article discussing problems in construction of instrument conveying gift to a group or class, see 6 Ga. St. B.J. 169 (1969). For article, ‘‘The Time Gap in Wills: Shifting Assets and Shrinking Estates — Obsolescence and Testamentary Planning in Georgia,’’ see 6 Ga. L. Rev. 649 (1972). For annual survey of wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 57 Mercer L. Rev. 403 (2005). For note discussing construction and interpretation of wills, see 1 Ga. L. Rev. No. 1, p. 46 (1927).

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)-2021-pdf.pdf, Volume V40, 2021 edition, page 413; merge action: annotated; file SHA-256 062775612dfc.