Who inherits in the first rank?

The decedent's children, a child born after the death, the spouse and the parents (adoptive parents) — with equal rights.

How do the ranks operate?

The existence of even one heir of a prior rank excludes the succession of the subsequent rank.

What rule applies to adopted children?

They are equalized with the adoptive parent's children and relatives but no longer inherit from their biological parents and that family's relatives.

What happens when no heir exists?

Ownerless property passes to the state; a share, stock or pai in a company or cooperative passes into the hands of that company or cooperative.

Georgia Intestate Succession — Inheritance Law

Who Can Be an Heir

Intestate succession resolves who receives a deceased person's property when there is no will or the will cannot operate. The heirs may be persons who were alive at the moment of the decedent's death, and also the decedent's children who will be born alive after the death. The criterion of life is tied to the moment of death, with an exception for a child to be born, grounded in the fact of conception.

By comparison, testamentary heirs may be persons alive at the moment of death, those conceived during the decedent's lifetime and born after the death regardless of whether they are his children, and also legal entities. The intestate track is narrower — built on family connection, while the testamentary track follows the testator's will.