2021 Georgia Code
Title 53 - Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates
Chapter 4 - Wills
Article 5 - Revocation and Republication
§ 53-4-44. Destruction or Obliteration of Will or Material Portion Thereof
An express revocation may be effected by any destruction or obliteration of the will done by the testator with an intent to revoke or by another at the testator's direction. The intent to revoke shall be presumed from the obliteration or cancellation of a material portion of the will, but such presumption may be overcome by a preponderance of the evidence.
(Code 1981, §53-4-44, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1586, § 15.)
Law reviews.- For article surveying developments in Georgia wills, trusts, and administration of estates law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 307 (1981). For article, "Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates," see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 499 (2001). For annual survey of law on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 365 (2010).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 79 Am. Jur. 2d, Wills, §§ 507 et seq., 522, 572.
C.J.S.- 95 C.J.S., Wills, §§ 390, 410, 411, 412.
ALR.
- Effect of testator's attempted physical alteration of will after execution, 62 A.L.R. 1367; 24 A.L.R.2d 514.
Revocation by ratification or adoption of physical destruction or mutilation of will without testator's knowledge or consent in first instance, 99 A.L.R. 524.
Necessity that physical destruction or mutilation of will be done in testator's presence in order to effect revocation, 100 A.L.R. 1520.
Destruction or cancellation of one copy of will executed in duplicate, as revocation of other copy, 17 A.L.R.2d 805.
Revocation of will as affecting codicil and vice versa, 7 A.L.R.3d 1143.
Admissibility of testator's declarations on issue of revocation of will, in his possession at time of his death, by mutilation, alteration, or cancellation, 28 A.L.R.3d 994.
Testator's failure to make new will, following loss of original will by fire, theft, or similar casualty, as constituting revocation of original will, 61 A.L.R.3d 958.
Sufficiency of evidence that will was not accessible to testator for destruction, in proceeding to establish lost will, 86 A.L.R.3d 980.
Ademption or revocation of specific devise or bequest by guardian, committee, conservator, or trustee of mentally or physically incompetent testator, 84 A.L.R.4th 462.
