2022 Georgia Code
Title 53 - Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates
Chapter 3 - Year’s Support
§ 53-3-7. Hearing and Determination

1. If no objection is made after the publication of the notice, or, if made, is disallowed or withdrawn, the probate court shall enter an order setting apart as year’s support the property applied for in the petition.
2. If objection is made, the probate court shall hear the petition and, upon the evidence submitted, shall determine the property to be set apart as year’s support according to the standards set out in subsection (c) of this Code section. If an appeal is taken, pending the appeal the petitioners shall be furnished with necessaries by the personal representative or temporary administrator of the estate, as allowed by the probate court.
3. If objection is made to the amount or nature of the property proposed to be set apart as year’s support, the court shall set apart an amount sufficient to maintain the standard of living that the surviving spouse and each minor child had prior to the death of the decedent, taking into consideration the following:
   1. The support available to the individual for whom the property is to be set apart from sources other than year’s support, including but not limited to the principal of any separate estate and the income and earning capacity of that individual;
   2. The solvency of the estate; provided, however, that, if the decedent dies having a deposit in a financial institution that is applied to the payment of the funeral expenses and expenses of the last illness of the decedent under subsection (c) of Code Section 7-1-239, any effect such payment may have on the solvency of the estate shall not operate adversely to the surviving spouse or any minor child in the determination of the amount to be set apart as year’s support; and
   3. Such other relevant criteria as the court deems equitable and proper.

      The petitioner for year’s support shall have the burden of proof in showing the amount necessary for year’s support.

History. Code 1981, § 53-3-7 , enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 1-8/HB 865.

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, substituted “apart” for “aside” in subsection (a); in subsection (b), substituted “apart as year’s support” for “aside” in the first sentence and inserted “or temporary administrator” in the last sentence; and, in subsection (c), substituted “apart” for “aside” following “to be set” in the introductory language and added the proviso at the end of paragraph (c)(2).

Law reviews.

For article discussing decisions involving the year’s support provision of the Georgia Code, see 3 Ga. St. B.J. 427 (1967).

For article surveying wills, trusts, and administration of estates, see 34 Mercer L. Rev. 323 (1982).

For annual survey of law of wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 457 (2004).

For survey article on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 417 (2008).