Rules of Inheritance

The following outline is a summary of the Georgia Law which determines who are heirs at law of a Decedent (the person whose death necessitates the administration of his or her estate). The actual statute may be found in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Section 53-2-1.


The heirs are:



  • The spouse if there are no children (and no children who died before the decedent leaving living children of their own or descendants of living children).


  • The spouse and children if there are children, and the children of any child or children who died before the Decedent (as well as the deceased child’s descendants if any of the deceased child’s children also predeceased the Decedent).


  • If no spouse, children, descendants of deceased child, grandchild, etc., the parents.


  • If no spouse, children, descendants of children, or parents survived the decedent, the brothers and sisters of the Decedent and the descendants of any deceased brother or sister who predeceased the Decedent.


  • If none of the above were living at Decedent’s death, the grandparents.


  • If none of the above, uncles and aunts and descendants of any deceased uncle or aunt--BUT-- if all uncles and aunts are deceased, then first cousins share equally, rather than siblings taking their parent’s share.


  • The more remote degrees of kinship are determined by a mathematical formula involving the relative in question and the closest common ancestor.  If you have gotten this far, please consult O.C.G.A. sec. 53-2-1(b)(8).  You may also need the assistance of an attorney.


This information is also available in the form of a flow chart you can download from the right sidebar of this page.