Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

Unless you spent money on the funeral with consent of the representative of the estate, you are not a creditor and made a gift. If you have a signed agreement with the executor or family, then discuss your situation with a lawyer. Even if you have a claim, you do NOT collect it through the probate court and don't send letters to the court.

That is really nice of you but I am not sure why you would go out of your way to pay funeral bills for a friend. Its not your responsibility and you are what the law terms an "officious intermeddler" unless you had some contract to pay these bills. If you did it without a contract on your own then it is a gift made on your part. Its up to the executor of the estate to decide on whether to reimburse you. Your "claim" can be in the form of a letter to the executor. You should send to both the executor by certified mail and file it with the estate. Explain in the letter why you believe that money should be owed as reimbursement. If the claim is denied, you then sue the estate for reimbursement assuming you have grounds to do so (again you need to prove why money is owed and that you did not just make a gift because you "assumed" something).

There are strict time limits for all of this. Most importantly, does the estate have any assets? What also are the debts? If you do not know then you need to find out by reviewing the estate file. Claims are paid in order of priority as set forth in state law and I don't know where your claim would fall (its not really a funeral expense per se so it would have lost that priority status).

If this is all too much then you need to sit down with an attorney, preferably a probate litigation attorney, who practices in the county/state where the estate for your dead friend is pending. He or she will then be able to advise you of the process for filing a claim and seeking reimbursement.