Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

That has absolutely nothing to do with what happens. What happens depends completely on the wording of the will, and you should discuss that with your lawyer, who has seen it.

As noted by Attorney Ashman, you ask the wrong question.

First, who died and when? Where did the dead person live prior to death? In GA? Or somewhere else?

Did the dead person have a will? Regardless of whether there was or was no will, is there a personal representative and has an estate been probated?

You state that one of the beneficiaries is living in the property of the deceased. This suggests that (a) the deceased did have a will and (b) left it to beneficiary living in the property and someone else.

Assuming those facts to be true, then this is a bad idea unless beneficiary and other heirs can all agree on everything all of the time. If they cannot, then whoever wants the home needs to buy out the equity shares of the other heirs. This means the property will have to be appraised and the person who is buying the property has to be able to get a mortgage if he or she does not have cash handy. If the beneficiary cannot then one of the other property owners will have to buy out the beneficiary.

If no one is willing or able to buy out the other then any of the named beneficiaries can bring what is called a partition action in the county where the property is located. In a partition, the court will see if the land can be divided and if it cannot, then it will be ordered sold and the proceeds will be divided.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves here. What assets did the decedent own and how were they titled? What claims or debts are there in the estate? Will it be necessary for the personal representative to sell the property and use the proceeds to pay any claims? The claims must be paid before the heirs get anything.

Depending on the debts and or the language in the will, the personal representative may have the authority to tell the beneficiary to get out and sell the property. Also, the beneficiary does not have a right to live in the property rent free. The other beneficiaries are entitled to a share of he profits (rental value) and are also obligated to share in the taxes, insurance, maintenance and mortgage, if any.

I suggest that if you are an heir/beneficiary or the personal representative, that you take a copy of the will and deed to the property to an attorney and pay him/her to review for you.