2020 Georgia Code
Title 53 - Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates
Chapter 7 - Administration of Estates Generally
Article 3 - Inventory
§ 53-7-30. Filing and Contents

Unless otherwise provided by will or relieved under Code Section 53-7-32 or 53-7-33, the personal representative shall prepare an inventory of all the property of the decedent. The personal representative shall file the inventory with the probate court and shall deliver a copy of the inventory to the beneficiaries of a testate estate or the heirs of an intestate estate by first-class mail within six months after the qualification of the personal representative. It shall not be necessary to mail a copy of the inventory to any beneficiary or heir who is not sui juris or for the court to appoint a guardian for such person. The time for filing the inventory may be extended by the probate court for good cause shown. The inventory shall state that it contains a true statement of all the property of the decedent within the knowledge of the personal representative and shall be verified in the same manner as a petition filed in the probate court. The inventory shall state that the inventory has been mailed to all beneficiaries or heirs who are entitled to receive the inventory and shall provide the name of any beneficiary or heir who has waived the right to receive the inventory, as provided in Code Section 53-7-32.

(Code 1981, §53-7-30, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1352, § 20; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1586, § 30.)

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1996, "Section" was substituted for "Sections" prior to "53-7-32" in the first sentence of subsection (a).

- For article commenting on the 1997 amendment of this Code section, see 14 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 313 (1997).

This section replaces former OCGA Sec. 53-7-75. The new law extends the inventory requirement to cover all property of the decedent whereas the former law limited the requirement as to real property to that real property that is located within the county and any other real property lying outside the county that has come to the knowledge of the personal representative. The new law requires the inventory to be filed within six months rather than four months of qualification not only with the probate court but also with the beneficiaries of a testate estate or the heirs of an intestate estate. (For provisions relating to the relief or waiver of the right to receive the inventory, see OCGA Sec. 53-7-32.) The new law requires that the inventory be verified. (For general provisions as to verification of petitions filed in the probate court, see OCGA Sec. 53-11-8). The new law requires a supplemental inventory when additional property comes into the personal representative's hands. Former OCGA Secs. 53-7-70 through 53-7-74, relating to appraisements, are repealed.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 113-1402, are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- Inventory required by law to be made and returned by an administrator is an admission, though not a conclusive one, of possession of such assets of an intestate as are therein described. Ellis v. McWilliams, 70 Ga. App. 195, 27 S.E.2d 886 (1943) (decided under former Code 1933, § 113-1402).

Administrator may explain any mistake or error in the inventory, or may show that the administrator's intestate had no title to the property inventoried. The administrator's inventory of assets as belonging to the administrator's intestate puts the burden on the administrator to show its incorrectness. Ellis v. McWilliams, 70 Ga. App. 195, 27 S.E.2d 886 (1943) (decided under former Code 1933, § 113-1402).

- Because an estate's executors were exempted by the terms of the testator's will from the duty to file an accounting or inventory, a creditor of the estate was not entitled to compel the executors to file such reports. O.C.G.A. §§ 53-7-33 and53-7-69 did not provide for a cause of action but simply noted that the executors were not unaccountable for injury based on the exemption. In re Estate of Willis, 310 Ga. App. 377, 713 S.E.2d 464 (2011).

- Inventory and appraisement, when properly filed and recorded in the office of the court of ordinary (now probate court), is prima facie proof as to the property owned by the deceased at the time of death, and an estimate of the value thereof. If not a true inventory and appraisal, the burden is upon the removed administrator to prove that it is not correct, and account to the ordinary (now probate judge) for the items which the administrator listed and submitted to the appraisers, and which the administrator verified as correct. Ellis v. McWilliams, 70 Ga. App. 195, 27 S.E.2d 886 (1943) (decided under former Code 1933, § 113-1402).

Cited in Harris v. Seals, 29 Ga. 585 (1859); Holsenbeck v. Arnold, 75 Ga. App. 311, 43 S.E.2d 348 (1947); Spradley v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 108 Ga. App. 865, 134 S.E.2d 850 (1964).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 31 Am. Jur. 2d, Executors and Administrators, § 488 et seq.

- 34 C.J.S., Executors and Administrators, § 174 et seq.

- Renewal of copyright where author is dead, 19 A.L.R. 295.