Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

Probate will occur in Georgia. The will from Alabama can be probated there, assuming the will is valid under Alabama law. Hope this helps. -Jay Mills

You indicate your mother is in a Georgia nursing home. Does she actually reside there? Or does she still own property in Alabama? Assuming she resides in Georgia, then the estate is probated in the county where she resides. If she lives at a nursing home in Georgia but does not reside there, then the main estate might be probated where she resides or owns land. Residency for purposes of probating an estate is not the same as just living somewhere - people can live anywhere and not be a resident of the place where they are at. If your mother resides in Georgia but still owns land in Alabama, then the main estate might be in Georgia and an ancillary estate will be in Alabama.

See OCGA � 53-5-1. Jurisdiction and domicile

(a) The probate court shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the probate of wills.

(b) The county of domicile of the testator at death shall give jurisdiction to the probate court of that county.

(c) The domicile of a testator who was in the care of a nursing home or other similar facility at the time of death shall be presumed to be the county in which the testator was domiciled immediately before entering the nursing home or other facility; provided, however, this presumption may be rebutted. If it is determined by the probate court that the testator considered or, in the absence of an impairment of mental faculties, the testator would have considered the county in which the facility is located to be the testator's domicile, then for purposes of this Code section that county shall be considered the testator's county of domicile.

If she had a valid will made in Alabama, it will be accepted by the Georgia courts. See OCGA � 53-5-31. Requisites for admission to probate

A foreign will or an out-of-state will may be admitted to original common or solemn form probate under the rules governing probate of wills of testators who die domiciled in this state upon proof that the will is valid under the laws of this state and that it has not been offered for probate or establishment in the domiciliary jurisdiction or that it has been offered for probate but either no timely caveat or similar objection was filed in the domiciliary jurisdiction or the grounds of a pending caveat or similar objection are not such as would, if proved, cause the denial of probate.

Since your mother is still alive, the will is not yet operative. However, since your mother is no longer of sound mind, she cannot make another will. Do you hold power of attorney over your mother? What assets, if any does she own? You might want to start structuring things so that your mother has enough to pay for her care and live comfortably but that she will have a very small probate estate whenever she passes (you don't indicate her age, so I don't know her reasonable life expectancy).

The agent under a power of attorney may want to start off by consulting an elder law attorney in Georgia if your mother resides there.