If you find yourself in the position of being the executor of a will or the trustee of a trust, and you have either been reading past issues of this newsletter or watching the news, you may be concerned about your risk of getting sued by a beneficiary.

The term “heirs” is frequently used in wills and trusts to define the individuals who will take your property if your named beneficiaries are unable to do so, either due to their failure to survive you, a disclaimer or otherwise. And if you have no will, your probate estate will go to your heirs. But do you know who your heirs are?

As of January 1, 2021, new laws took effect that make sweeping changes to Georgia’s probate and trust codes. For those involved in trust and estate litigation, perhaps the most significant change is the expansion of probate court subject matter jurisdiction in certain counties to include actions concerning trusts, trustees and trust directors, as well as disputes over the exercise of powers of attorney.

When he was a young lawyer in Boston, John Adams, the future second President of the United States, was called upon to defend several of the British soldiers accused of murder for firing on a mob in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Although his sympathies were with the revolution, John Adams won an acquittal for his defendants by convincing a Boston jury that the British soldiers had acted in self-defense and without malice. He told the jury: “Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence...”