Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

The girlfriend (unless there is a will) is not an heir. If there are assets, either the children or his wife would need to start a probate in Georgia and step one would be to talk to a lawyer about whether, when and how to do it. (The wife may also have a years support claim).

I agree with Attorney Ashman. Your mother or one of you children need to speak to a probate lawyer who practices in the GA county where your father lived at the time of his death.

The year of support referenced by Attorney Ashman has time restrictions. See OCGA � 53-3-5(c) A petition for year's support shall be filed within 24 months of the date of death of the decedent. You do not indicate when your father died but I assume it was recent. If your mother does not timely petition for the funds she does not get it so she needs to act.

You also note that the father lived with the girlfriend. While the girlfriend is not an heir under the intestacy laws, you do not indicate if there is a will. If there is, then your father could have made her a beneficiary. Even if he had no will, if he owned any joint assets with her (like a house as joint tenancy with right of survivorship or a joint bank account or made her the beneficiary of his life insurance policy) then those things would pass to her outside of probate.

Also, you do not indicate whether your parents had any kind of a marital settlement agreement. If so, they might have waived rights of inheritance, right to a year's allowance or right to administer an estate or inherit from your father's estate. If so, then your father's probate assets would go to his children, assuming he had them.

You ask about your responsibilities - you or your mother needs to contact a GA probate attorney as I mentioned. You also need to start gathering up as much information as possible about what assets your father owned (for example, if he owned land, then go to the register of deeds for the county where it is located and get a copy of the deed to see how the land is titled). You need to see what assets are probate and what are non-probate assets. You also need to know if there is a will or not or if your parents' had any kind of separation/settlement agreement.

If you suspect there is a will but the girlfriend is not providing information, then she can be compelled to produce it.