2020 Georgia Code
Title 53 - Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates
Chapter 11 - Proceedings in Probate Court
§ 53-11-6. (For Effective Date, See note.) Waiver or Acknowledgment of Service of Citation or Other Notice; Consent to Granting of Relief or Entry of Order

1. Service of citation or other notice may be waived or acknowledged before or after the filing of the petition. The waiver or acknowledgment shall be in a writing signed by the person to be served with notice or some person authorized by the person to be served with such notice, shall be sworn to or affirmed before the probate court or a notary public, and shall be filed with the probate court.
2. Except as otherwise prescribed by law, the written consent of a party to the granting of any relief or the entry of any order sought in a proceeding covered by this chapter, whether executed before or after the filing of the petition, shall constitute a waiver and acknowledgment of service of notice of the proceedings, waiver of any other or further citation or service of notice, entry of appearance, answer admitting all allegations of fact set forth in the petition as true and correct, and consent to the granting of the relief or the order sought.
3. A person in military service, regardless of age, shall be permitted to make any waiver, acknowledgment, or consent described in this Code section.

(Code 1981, §53-11-6, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1352, § 30; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1586, § 46; Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 1-67/HB 865.)

- For annual survey of law of wills, trusts, and administration of estates, see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 417 (1986). For article commenting on the 1997 amendment of this Code section, see 14 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 313 (1997).

This section sets forth general provisions for the waiver or acknowledgement of service or notice and the consent to any relief or order sought in a petition filed in the probate court. This section repeals the requirement of former OCGA Sec. 53-5-80 that all acknowledgements of service be attested by a notary public or the clerk of the probate court.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Effect of assent.

- It was proper to dismiss without a hearing a caveat to a will based on lack of testamentary capacity because it was clear that the caveator's allegations were fatally deficient. The caveator had not sought to set aside the probate court's order probating the will; by signing a letter of assent, the caveator had consented to the immediate probate of the will, which established, among other things, that the testator had sufficient mental capacity; and although the caveator contended that distribution of the estate should be governed by an alleged contract between the parties, the caveator had not appealed the probate court's finding that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider the alleged contract. In re Estate of Brice, 288 Ga. App. 449, 654 S.E.2d 420 (2007).

- Probate court did not err in denying as untimely a child's demand for a jury trial because the child's first filing was on May 12 when the child's written and notarized acknowledgment of and assent to the petition for probate was filed with the petition for probate, and the written and notarized assent to the probate of a testator's will constituted an answer, a pleading; therefore, the child's written demand for a jury trial had to be filed by June 11, making untimely the child's demand filed on July 25. Simmons v. Harms, 287 Ga. 176, 695 S.E.2d 38 (2010).