Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

What power does the appointed administrator have over property


Asked on 6/24/12, 10:11 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Glen Ashman Ashman Law Office also dba Glen Ashman Attorney

As much (or as little) as the order appointing him granted. In asking a question that generic, rather than what specific issue you actually have, and then in leaving out what the Letters Testamentary says, there's no way to answer you.

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Answered on 6/24/12, 12:10 pm

The task of the administrator is to administer the estate, i.e., to figure out what probate assets are in the estate, what debts there are of the estate, to pay the bills and to distribute whatever is left to the heirs.

By property, are you referring to land? And did you ask this question again? My answer is the same - see below:

The power of the administrator is not to decide whether to keep the land or sell it. The duties of the administrator are to find out what the dead person owned, what he owed, to pay any claims/debts of the dead person and distribute what is left to the heirs. If there is no money in the estate to pay any claims, then the land will have to be sold. The administrator cannot just decide to keep the land along with the other heirs and not pay any claims.

If there is enough money in the estate and there is no will, then the land is divided equally among the heirs under the intestacy law; the heirs are the surviving spouse, if any, and the children. If the spouse is dead, then the children will all inherit. Since you are a grandhild and it appears that your father is alive, that does not include you.

If there are 7 heirs here, it is a bad idea for this many people to own land. I doubt that all 7 of them will agree on everything all of the time. What will need to happen is that the heirs who want to keep farming the land should buy out the share of those who don't want it. If they refuse, then any of the heirs can seek what is called partition. In partition, a party asks the court to divide the land; if it cannot be fairly divided, then it is sold and the money from the sale is divided. Everybody loses in a partition, so it is best to fairly resolve this.

Your father should seek out a probate law attorney in the county/state where the dead person (I assume its your grandfather) lived at the time of his death and owned land.

And it does not matter what the dead person wanted. If he cared enough to make his wishes known, then he would have made a will. If he didn't bother, then whatever he may have said verbally does not count. It is not legally enforcible.

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Answered on 6/25/12, 8:40 pm


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