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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 53. WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES · Chapter 5. PROBATE · Article 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

53-5-8. Notice to beneficiary provided by personal representative; representation for beneficiaries; waivers.

Active

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

  1. (a)

    The personal representative shall have a duty to notify the beneficiaries of a testate estate of the probate of the will and the name and mailing address of such personal representative; provided, however, that notice shall not be required to be given to any beneficiary who:#

    1. (1)

      Has waived such right to notification in writing;#

    2. (2)

      Acknowledged service of and assented to the petition to probate the will, if such personal representative was a petitioner; or#

    3. (3)

      Is such personal representative.#

    4. Such notification shall be given within six months from the date of qualification of the first personal representative of a testate estate to serve.

  2. (b)

    A personal representative who, without sufficient cause, either fails to provide accurate information regarding such personal representative’s name, mailing address, and telephone number within five business days of a request for such information by a beneficiary or by the probate court or otherwise fails to comply with the requirements of subsection (a) of this Code section, may be cited to appear and show cause as to why the personal representative’s letters should not be revoked in the same manner as pursuant to Code Section 53-6-53.#

  3. (c)

    Where there is a trust that is a beneficiary of a testate estate and there is not a trustee who is not the personal representative, any notice or citation required by this Code section shall be given to and may be waived by each beneficiary of such trust to whom income or principal is required or authorized in the trustee’s discretion to be distributed currently. For purposes of this Code section, a trust beneficiary may be represented as provided in Code Section 53-12-8.#

  4. (d)

    Nothing in this Code section shall alter or affect any time period established by Code Section 53-7-42, subsection (d) of Code Section 53-8-15, or other applicable law.#

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, § 53-5-8, enacted by Ga. L. 2023, p. 636, § 1/HB 91, effective July 1, 2023; Ga. L. 2025, p. 806, § 52/HB 327, effective July 1, 2025.

Effective date

This Code section became effective July 1, 2023.

Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, rewrote this Code section, which read: (a) “As used in this Code section, the term ‘beneficiary’ means a person, including a trust, that is designated in a will to take an interest in real or personal property; that has a present interest, including, but not limited to, a vested remainder interest, but not including a trust beneficiary where there is a trustee who is not also the personal representative required to give notice; and whose identity and whereabouts are known or may be determined by reasonable diligence.” (b) “As used in this Code section, the term ‘beneficiary’ means a person, including a trust, that is designated in a will to take an interest in real or personal property; that has a present interest, including, but not limited to, a vested remainder interest, but not including a trust beneficiary where there is a trustee who is not also the personal representative required to give notice; and whose identity and whereabouts are known or may be determined by reasonable diligence.”

Code Commission notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2023, in subsection (c), a comma was inserted following “without sufficient cause” near the beginning and a comma was deleted following “by the probate court”.

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 56 to 57; merge action: added; file SHA-256 d9d2be0e71ce.