Do you have to probate a will? Georgia estate planning and probate attorney Sarah Siedentopf shares the answer in Siedentopf Law’s latest video. #estateplanning #probate #will #Georgia

Hi, I’m Sarah Siedentopf. I’m an estate planning and probate attorney in Atlanta, Georgia.

The question for today is, do you have to probate a will? Someone has passed away. You know that there is a will. You’ve seen this will, you know where it is. Do you have to probate it? Is there a legal requirement that you do something with this will? The answer to the second part of this question is yes. There is a legal requirement that you do something with that will. The answer to the first real question is no — that something that’s required is not probate. There are times when you might not want to probate a will or not need to probate a will, and that is a subject for a different day. But, you are not required to probate a will just because it exists.

However, if you find yourself in possession of an original will after someone has passed away, the law in Georgia does require you to file it with the county that the person was living in before they died. You’re just putting it on file in the county records so that you or anyone else in the future needs to probate it, it is there. But you’re not responsible to probate a will that you don’t need to probate or don’t want to probate just because you have it. So, quick and easy: you do file it; you don’t have to probate it unless you want to. If you have any more questions about this, or if you are in possession of a will and you’re wondering what to do with it, please give me a call. Thanks.

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