Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

If a person dies with no will, no spouse, and no descendants, under Georgia law the heirs of that person are his or her parents and siblings, in equal measure. If one of the siblings was deceased, that deceased sibling's share would go to his or her descendants.

I agree with Attorney Gardner although your post is somewhat cryptic.

I assume you are saying that there are 13 siblings who inherited land; 6 of those 13 want the land and acquired via quitclaim deed the shares of those who do not. So now the land is owned by the 6 of them, which in and of itself is a recipe for disaster. How then do the 6 of them own the land? If they own as joint tenants with right of survivorship, then if one of the 6 dies, the land will pass to the other 5 surviving heirs equally.

If, as is probably the case, no new deeds were drawn up and the land is still in the name of the deceased and the owners only hold quitclaim deeds, then thery are considered tenants in common. What that means is if one of the 6 dies, the share of the deceased sibling will pass, not to the other surviving siblings, but to the spouse, if any, and children of the deceased sibling as noted by Attorney Gardner. It gets complicated after that if there is no spouse or will.

What the 6 siblings need to do is really really sit down and have a meeting. 6 people owning land is a recipe for disaster. All 6 have to agree all the time on what to do with the land. Not very likely to happen. Who will pay for the taxes? Insurance? Upkeep? What if one wants to sell? What if one wants to sell only the timber or minerals? Or lease it out?

If the 6 want to keep the land, maybe they should set up a family trust and convey the land into the trust and appoint someone to manage it - lease it, sell off timber and so on and put the money into a fund to pay taxes, insurance and maintenance.

Otherwise, really one person who wants it should buy out the rest or the land should be sold and the proceeds divided 6 ways. Failing that, then I would go to a real estate attorney and have a new deed drawn up providing for ownership as joint tenants with right of survivorship, so that the last person to die ends up with the land and none of the other survivors has to worry about dealing with spouses and nieces/nephews if one of the 6 siblings dies.