---
title: O.C.G.A. § 53-5-2. Right to offer will for probate; ‘‘interested person’’ defined.
collection: code
id: 53-5-2
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 53-5-2 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-5-2
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-5-2.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-5-2/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=473
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/53-5.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-5-1.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-5-3.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 / PROBATE / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 53-5-2. Right to offer will for probate; ‘‘interested person’’ defined.

(a) As used in this Code section, the term ‘‘interested person’’ shall include, but shall not necessarily be limited to, any heir of the decedent; legatee, devisee, or beneficiary under the will; creditor of the decedent; purchaser from an heir of the decedent; administrator or temporary administrator appointed for the estate of the decedent prior to the discovery of the will; trustee or beneficiary of a testamentary trust established by the will or of a trust to which the will makes a devise or bequest; and individual making a claim under, or having standing to caveat to the probate of, an earlier will. An agent, conservator, guardian, guardian ad litem, or other fiduciary or appropriate representative of such an interested person may act on such interested person’s behalf.

(b) The right to offer a will for probate shall belong to the executor, if one is named. If for any reason the executor fails to offer the will for probate with reasonable promptness, or if no executor is named, any interested person may offer the will for probate.

## History

Code 1981, § 53-5-2, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 2018, p. 356, § 3-1/SB 436; Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 1-17/HB 865.

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, inserted subsection (a); redesignated the existing provisions as subsection (b); and, in subsection (b), deleted the last sentence, which read: ‘‘As used in this Code section, the term ‘interested person’ shall include, but shall not be limited to, any legatee, devisee, creditor of the decedent, purchaser from an heir of the decedent, an administrator appointed for the decedent prior to the discovery of the will, and any individual making a claim under an earlier will’’.

## Law Reviews

For annual survey on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 67 Mercer L. Rev. 273 (2015).