Probate without a will in Georgia: who inherits

The short answer

When there is no will, Georgia law decides who inherits. A spouse with no children or grandchildren gets it all. A spouse and children share equally, but the spouse never gets less than one-third. With no spouse, the children split it. Next in line are parents, then brothers and sisters. Someone still has to run the estate, unless the heirs can skip that step.

By Georgia Probate Specialist teamPublished October 17, 2026Updated October 17, 2026

On this page

01Who inherits: the chart
02When a child died first
03Who is not on the list
04Heirs and the administrator are two different roles
05When the heirs can skip the administrator
06The house

Who inherits: the chart

Dying without a will is called dying intestate. The family members who inherit are the heirs. Georgia law lists them in order. You go down the list until you reach someone who is still alive.

Your loved one left	Who inherits
A spouse, no children or grandchildren	The spouse gets it all. Parents and siblings get nothing.
A spouse and one child	Half each.
A spouse and two children	One-third each.
A spouse and three or more children	The spouse gets one-third. The children split the rest.
Children, no spouse	The children split it equally.
No spouse, children or grandchildren, but a parent	The parents split it. If one is gone, the other gets it all.
Only brothers and sisters	They split it. If none are alive, their children split it.
None of these	Grandparents first, then aunts and uncles, then first cousins, then kin further out.

A spouse always gets a share. Who shares it with the spouse depends on who else is left.

When a child died first

Say your mother had three children, and one died before she did. That child's own children step into their parent's place. They split the share their parent would have had. Lawyers call this per stirpes.

The same thing happens on the brother and sister row. A sibling who died first passes their share down to their own kids.

Half brothers and half sisters count the same as full ones.

Who is not on the list

The list in Georgia law does not name stepchildren. It does not name an unmarried partner or in-laws either. If someone like that was promised a part of the estate, talk with a lawyer.

Heirs are fixed on the day of the death. A person generally has to be alive that day to inherit. A child conceived before the death and born within 10 months after it can count too, if the baby lives at least 120 hours. If an heir outlives your loved one and then dies, that heir's own estate takes their place.

Georgia law also says that a parent who willfully left a minor child, with no contact, care or support for a year or more, can lose the right to inherit from that child. The probate judge decides, and the proof has to be clear.

Heirs and the administrator are two different roles

An heir owns a share of what is left. The administrator is the one person the court puts in charge. They pay the debts, then hand out the rest to the heirs. One person can be both.

The heirs can agree on who it should be. If they don't, the state form lists an order, and the spouse comes first. The court's paper that puts the administrator in charge is called letters of administration.

An administrator needs a bond unless every heir agrees to waive it. A bond is a kind of insurance that protects the heirs.

Letters of administration vs. testamentary

When the heirs can skip the administrator

Sometimes no one has to be put in charge. Every heir has to agree in writing on who gets what. The estate has to owe nothing, or the people it owes have to agree or be served. Then the heirs can ask for an order called No Administration Necessary.

A spouse or children under 18 can also ask for year's support. It sets aside property for them to live on for a year after the death, ahead of other debts.

No Administration Necessary Year's support

The house

With no will, the house goes to the heirs like everything else, in the shares on the chart. A spouse and two children would each hold a one-third share.

If an administrator sells it, they need the power to sell. With no will, the heirs can all ask for that power, and the court can grant it when the letters are issued. If no one got it, the administrator asks the court for leave to sell, which is the court's okay. The heirs get notice first.

Quick answers

Questions people ask

Does the spouse get everything in Georgia?

Only when there are no children or grandchildren. With children, the spouse shares equally with them, and the spouse's part is never less than one-third.

Do stepchildren inherit when there is no will?

Georgia's list of heirs does not name stepchildren. If a stepchild was promised something, a lawyer can say whether anything else applies.

What if one of the children died before the parent?

That child's own children take the share their parent would have had. They split it among themselves.

Who picks the administrator?

The probate judge. The state form puts the heirs' shared choice first in line, then the spouse.

Where these facts come from10 sources

This page explains how things work. It is not legal advice. Each fact here comes from one of these sources.