Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

Why would you administer a trust without the advice of an attorney? Consult with a lawyer for $50, or get yourself in hot water and pay up the wazoo for one later when you screw things up playing street lawyer.

It depends on the language and the law.

Since you failed to tell us what the trust says and what the applicable law says, there is obvioulsy no way anyone here can respond.

Your post does evidence one thing. The fact that you are asking vague questions online rather than employing a lawyer to assist with probate tells me that you likely are making mistakes. A probate of a will with a trust certainly requires at least an inexpensive legal consultation if not more extensive legal advice.

You have inconsistent language. The administration of a trust has nothing to do with a will. Ideally, the pourover will (if you are dealing with a true administration of a trust) is consistent with the trust language. In such case, read the trust and will together and enforce both if possible. If there is a conflict, then the will governs the probate assets. Whatever is left gets paid into the trust and is then administered as per the terms of the trust.

If you misspoke and there is only a will and probate estate, then the function of the probate court, in the event of a dispute regarding the will's meaning, is to look at the will and see if it is clear. If it is not possible to ascertain the testator's intent, then other things come into play. State law generally does not govern the interpretation of a will, but there are certain provisions in state law which may affect the bequests made in a will. For example, if a person made a will and left assets to their spouse, then divorced and died without ever changing the will, then any provisions in favor of the surviving spouse are revoked because of the divorce as per state law. Another example where one person who is a beneficiary kills the person who made the will. In such case, most states have slayer's acts which provide that the killer cannot benefit from the estate of the person who was killed. In either case, then you might say that state law governs the interpretation of the will.

However, it is impossible to know what you are talking about and to answer your question without reviewing the will and any trust documents. If you do not already have a lawyer, then you are going to have pay a probate, estates & trust lawyer to review the documents and specifically answer your question. You will need a lawyer in the county/state where the estate is probated. If no probate has commenced yet, then it typically is the county/state where the decedent resided just prior to death or where the decedent owns real property.