Most people know they should “have their papers in order.” Fewer know which papers, or what happens if one is missing. This page explains the four documents most Georgia families end up needing, in plain English, and how Leaf helps you get them done with an attorney.
It’s general information to help you get ready. Which documents fit your family is a question for the attorney.
The four documents most Georgia families need
1. Last will and testament
What it does: A will says who receives your property, names the person who will handle your estate (your executor), and can name a guardian for minor children.
What happens without it: Georgia’s intestate succession law decides who inherits. If you’re married with children, your spouse and children share the estate equally, except that your spouse’s share can’t be less than one-third. If you’re married with no children, your spouse generally inherits everything. The probate court appoints an administrator to handle the estate, which may not be the person you would have chosen.
2. Durable financial power of attorney
What it does: It names someone (your agent) to handle your money and property if you can’t, such as paying bills, managing bank accounts or selling a house. Georgia has a statutory power of attorney form under the Georgia Power of Attorney Act, which took effect in 2017. A Georgia financial power of attorney covers property only; it doesn’t authorize health care decisions.
What happens without it: If you become unable to manage your affairs, your family may have to ask the probate court to appoint a conservator before anyone can act for you. That takes time and money, and it happens during an already hard stretch.
3. Georgia advance directive for health care
What it does: Georgia combines the living will and the health care power of attorney into one document, the advance directive for health care, under the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act (O.C.G.A. § 31-32). It names your health care agent, the person who makes medical decisions if you can’t, and records your wishes about treatment.
What happens without it: Georgia law sets out which relatives may consent to treatment, but it can’t tell them what you would want. Relatives can disagree, and decisions may fall to someone you wouldn’t have picked.
4. Revocable living trust (for some families)
What it does: A trust holds your property during your lifetime, with you in control. When the time comes, the successor trustee you named manages and distributes whatever is in the trust, generally without probate. It only works for property that has actually been retitled into the trust.
What happens without it: Property in your name alone goes through probate under your will, or under intestate succession if there’s no will. For many Georgia families, a will is enough. For others, a trust is worth the extra setup. That’s the attorney’s call, with you.
Will or trust? Questions to bring to the attorney
We don’t tell you which to choose. These are the questions that tend to come up, so you can walk into the attorney’s office ready:
- Do I own real estate in more than one state? Property in another state can mean a separate probate there.
- Does someone in my family have special needs? An inheritance paid directly can affect eligibility for certain public benefits.
- How much do I care about avoiding probate? Ask what probate would look like for your estate, in your county, and what a trust would change.
- How much do I value privacy? A probated will becomes part of the court record. Ask how a trust compares.
- Who would I name to step in, and who would back them up? For the will, the trust, the power of attorney and the advance directive.
Beneficiary designations beat the will
This is the single most common mistake we see. Retirement accounts and life insurance go to whoever is named on the beneficiary form, not to whoever is named in the will. If your 401(k) still names an ex-spouse, the plan generally pays the ex-spouse, even if your new will says otherwise.
A new will doesn’t fix an old beneficiary form. Each form has to be updated with the plan or the insurance carrier. That’s why the beneficiary audit is part of every Assist Program sit-down. See how we get it organized.
How Leaf helps
Through our partnership with Dennis Breier, CEP®, we walk through the full planning conversation with you: what you own, who you want it to go to, and who should make decisions if you can’t. The documents are then prepared by an independent Georgia-licensed estate attorney who works with Dennis Breier’s practice. The attorney is the one who advises you on which documents fit and prepares them.
Once the documents are signed, we keep them in your Assist Program file so your family can find them when the time comes. One sit-down, one file, done.
What it costs: The attorney quotes the fee directly, and we’ll tell you what to expect before you book.
The rest of the plan
Documents decide who gets what and who’s in charge. Two more questions remain: how it will be paid for, and who will handle the paperwork.
Burial insurance is a small whole life insurance policy that pays your family in days, so the money is there for the service. And with the Assist Program, a Family Care Advisor handles the paperwork after a loss.
Want a head start before you call? Download our one-page estate checklist, or request a call and check “Wills, trusts or power of attorney.”