2022 Georgia Code
Title 53 - Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates
Chapter 4 - Wills
Article 6 - Construction of Will; Testamentary Gifts
§ 53-4-63. Payment of Debts of Testator and Expenses of Estate Administrator

1. Unless otherwise directed, the debts of the testator and expenses of administration of the estate shall be paid out of the residuum. Unless otherwise provided in the will, a residuary gift or any part thereof, including a residuary gift to a surviving spouse in lieu of year’s support, shall be deemed a gift of the net residuum or part thereof remaining after all debts of the testator and expenses of administration of the estate, including taxes, have been paid.
2. If the residuum proves to be insufficient for the payment of the debts of the testator and the expenses of administration of the estate, then general testamentary gifts shall abate pro rata to make up the deficiency. If general testamentary gifts are insufficient, then demonstrative testamentary gifts shall abate in the same manner. If both general and demonstrative gifts are insufficient, then specific gifts shall abate in the same manner.
3. After the estate assets in the hands of the personal representative are exhausted, a creditor may proceed against each beneficiary for that beneficiary’s pro rata share of the debts to the extent a testamentary gift has been distributed to that beneficiary.
4. Realty and personalty shall be equally liable for the payment of debts.
5. Unless otherwise expressly directed in the will, nothing in this Code section shall be deemed to limit any rights to reimbursement for federal estate taxes, generation-skipping transfer taxes, or any other taxes that may be available to personal representatives under federal law.

History. Code 1981, § 53-4-63 , enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 1-14/HB 865.

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, in subsection (a), inserted “and expenses of administration of the estate” in the first sentence, and in the second sentence, inserted “of the testator” and “of the estate”; in the first sentence in subsection (b), substituted “debts of the testator” for “testator’s debts” and inserted “of the estate”; and substituted “hands of the personal representative” for “executor’s hands” in subsection (c).

Law reviews.

For article, “The Time Gap in Wills: Shifting Assets and Shrinking Estates — Obsolescence and Testamentary Planning in Georgia,” see 6 Ga. L. Rev. 649 (1972).

For article surveying legislative and judicial developments in Georgia’s will, trusts, and estate laws, see 31 Mercer L. Rev. 281 (1979).

For article, “Tax Apportionment Problems under the Georgia Probate Code,” see 8 Ga. St. B.J. 16 (2003).