In In re Estate of Tom Cone, Jr., filed February 28, 2022, the Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed the Probate Court’s decision that a testamentary gift was adeemed by extinction. Tom Cone, Jr., died on November 6, 2015. In his Will, he left his interest in a corporation, Cone Solvents, to his sister, Susan Ligon. […]
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On February 24, 2022, the Georgia Court of Appeals decided In re Estate of Plybon (Appeal No. A21A1740, 2/24/2022). There, executrix Dorothy Johnson appealed from a Douglas County Probate Court order which construed the meaning of a 2013 Superior Court consent order in the context of a Petition for accounting and Final Settlement of Accounts. […]
Poor estate planning (or no planning) can result in unexpected and unintended results. All States have a law similar to O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1(c), idenitfying your heirs when you don’t have a Will, or if your Will doesn’t cover all of your property. Section 53-2-1(c) provides: (c) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section, […]
In In Re Estate of McClendon, 359 Ga. App. 259 (2021), decedent David McLendon’s Will was offered for probate by his widow and brother. McLendon’s children filed a caveat claiming the Will was invalid because it was not executed in accordance with the required formalities. After the Probate Court admitted the Will for probate, McLendon’s […]
In Georgia, the original Will must be offered for probate if it is available. If the original Will is lost, Section 53-4-46 creates a presumption that the Will was revoked due to its destruction, but that presumption may be overcome by a preponderance of the evidence. Section 53-4-46(b) provides: A copy of a will may […]
In Estate of Jeffcoat, 361 Ga. App. 828 (2021), Eleisha Pate filed a Petition to Probate the Will of Rhonda Jeffcoat, her mother. Pate was the named Executor. However, evidence in the Probate Court showed that Pate and her half-sister, Shauna Jeffcoat, could not get along. As a result, the Probate Court found Pate was […]
In Wilbur v. Floyd, 353 Ga. App. 864 (2020), Jeffrey Wilbur, on behalf of himself and as the executor of Gwen Wilbur’s estate, appealed summary judgment in favor of his sister, Patricia Floyd. Wilbur argued the trial court (1) erred in concluding that (a) the mother’s will was not valid because the attestation page was […]
Sometimes the original executor can no longer serve. The following form may be used to petition the Probate Court for appointment of a successor executor. Source: Cobb County Probate Court