Q: Can a surviving spouse will property even though he/she wasnt on the deed & there was no will from the deceased?
My father passed without a will nor did he list my mother on the deed of their property. Does she have ownership rights and if so can she will or deed the property to the surviving children?
A:
Probate is necessary to clear title to real property in Georgia, unless all the heirs can go to the court and ask it to issue letters of administration without probate. Letters of administration are what will be needed to transfer title.
In Georgia if a person dies without a will and is survived by a spouse and children, the spouse and children take equal shares, except that the spouse never gets less than a third. The spouse can renounce her share by doing so in writing within nine months. The property will then go entirely to the children.
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