2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 53 - WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES
CHAPTER 10 - DISPENSING WITH ADMINISTRATION
§ 53-10-2 - (Pre-1998 Probate Code) Order dispensing with administration -- Issuance and publication of citation; effect of written objections of creditor; order of probate court; recordation; effect of sale or encumbrance following order

O.C.G.A. 53-10-2 (2010)
53-10-2. (Pre-1998 Probate Code) Order dispensing with administration -- Issuance and publication of citation; effect of written objections of creditor; order of probate court; recordation; effect of sale or encumbrance following order


(a) Upon the filing of a petition for an order to dispense with administration, the judge of the probate court shall issue a citation, which shall be published in the official gazette of his county one time, requiring all creditors of the estate, if any, and all other interested persons to show cause why an order should not be entered finding that no administration or no permanent administration, as the case may be, is necessary.

(b) If any creditor, whether the debt is due or not, files objections in writing to the granting of the order, the judge shall refuse to grant an order finding that no administration or no permanent administration, as the case may be, is necessary.

(c) In the event no creditor files written objections to the granting of the order, it shall be the duty of the judge of the probate court to ascertain who are the heirs at law of the deceased owner and whether they are all of age and suffering under no disability and to determine whether the estate of the decedent owes any debts. If the judge finds that all of the heirs at law are sui juris and that the estate of the decedent owes no debts, it shall be the duty of the judge to enter an order in the proceedings finding that no administration or no permanent administration, as the case may be, is necessary. Should property included in the petition provided for in Code Section 53-10-1 be located in a county other than the county in which the petition is filed, a certified copy of the proceedings and the order of the judge thereon may be entered and recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the property is located.

(d) Real or personal property thereafter sold or encumbered by the heirs at law of the deceased owner to a purchaser or lender who acts in good faith in reliance upon the order shall be discharged from all claims, debts, and rights of creditors of the deceased owner, except such claims, liens, judgments, security deeds, mortgages, or encumbrances as have been duly recorded or filed for record in the manner required by law so as to constitute notice thereof at the time of any such sale or encumbrance by the heirs at law.