2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 53 - WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES
CHAPTER 4 - DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION
ARTICLE 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 53-4-4 - (Pre-1998 Probate Code) Inheritance by children born out of wedlock and their offspring

O.C.G.A. 53-4-4 (2010)
53-4-4. (Pre-1998 Probate Code) Inheritance by children born out of wedlock and their offspring


(a) Children born out of wedlock have no inheritable blood except that given to them by express law.

(b) A child born out of wedlock may inherit in the same manner as if legitimate from and through his mother, from and through the other children of his mother, and from and through any other maternal kin, whether collateral or lineal.

(c) (1) A child born out of wedlock may not inherit from or through his father or any paternal kin by reason of the paternal kinship unless, during the lifetime of the father and after the conception of the child:

(A) A court of competent jurisdiction has entered an order declaring the child to be legitimate, under the authority of Code Section 19-7-22 or such other authority as may be provided by law;

(B) A court of competent jurisdiction has otherwise entered a court order establishing the father of the child born out of wedlock;

(C) The father executed a sworn statement signed by him attesting to the parent-child relationship;

(D) The father signed the birth certificate of the child; or

(E) There is clear and convincing evidence that the child is the child of the father and that the father intended for the child to share in the father's intestate estate in the same manner in which the child would have shared if legitimate.

(2) (A) Paragraph (1) of this subsection notwithstanding, a child born out of wedlock may inherit from or through his father or any paternal kin by reason of the paternal kinship if evidence of the presumption of paternity described in this Code section is filed with the court before which proceedings on the estate shall be pending and the presumption is not overcome to the satisfaction of the trier of fact by clear and convincing evidence.

(B) There shall exist a rebuttable presumption of paternity of a child born out of wedlock if there shall have been performed, after the conception of the child, parentage-determination genetic testing which establishes at least a 97 percent probability of paternity. Parentage-determination genetic testing shall include, but not be necessarily limited to, red cell antigen, human leucocyte antigen (HLA), red cell enzyme, and serum protein (electrophoresis) tests or testing by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) probes.

(3) If one of the requirements of subparagraphs (A) through (E) of paragraph (1) of this subsection is fulfilled, or if the presumption of paternity set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection shall have been established and shall not have been rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, a child born out of wedlock may inherit in the same manner as if legitimate from and through his father, from and through the other children of his father, and from and through any other paternal kin, whether collateral or lineal.

(d) In distributions under this Code section, the children of a deceased child born out of wedlock shall represent the deceased parent.