Year’s support is a Georgia probate petition that lets a surviving spouse, or minor children, take property out of a deceased person’s estate and hold it in their own name, free of most of the estate’s unsecured debts. For a family whose main asset is the house, it is often the fastest and cleanest way to get title into a name that can sign a deed, and it avoids running a full estate administration to do it. There is one hard rule that decides whether it is available at all: the petition has to be filed within two years of the date of death, with no extensions. This guide covers who can file, what the award does and does not clear, how the process runs, and what selling looks like afterward. We buy houses and are not attorneys, so treat this as the map and have a Georgia probate attorney file the petition. The wider context is in our guide to selling an inherited house in Georgia.
What is year’s support in Georgia?
It is a statutory right, found in O.C.G.A. Title 53, Chapter 3, for the family the deceased person was supporting. On the death of any Georgia resident, solvent estate or insolvent, the surviving spouse or a guardian or other person acting on behalf of the spouse or a minor child may petition the probate court with jurisdiction over the estate to set aside property for their support. The petition names the spouse, names and gives the birth date of each surviving minor child, and includes a schedule of the property being requested, which can be the house, household furniture, vehicles, or cash. It is called year’s support because the amount is measured against twelve months of living, but the property awarded is kept permanently, not for a year.
How much can be set apart?
An amount sufficient to maintain the standard of living the spouse and minor children had before the death, for a period of twelve months, taking into account support available from other sources and other criteria the court finds equitable, including whether the estate is solvent. In practice, for most Georgia families whose estate is a modest house and little else, the whole house is what gets petitioned for and awarded. Where the estate is larger or creditors are engaged, the amount becomes a real question and the schedule of property in the petition matters, which is another reason to have an attorney draft it rather than fill in a form.
Who is eligible, and who loses the right?
A surviving spouse, and minor children of the deceased, including a child whose parent was not the surviving spouse. Eligibility is measured at the moment of filing, and it can be lost before then. A surviving spouse who remarries before filing loses the right. A surviving spouse who dies before filing loses it. A minor child’s eligibility ends when the child turns eighteen, marries, or dies before the petition goes in. Adult children with no minor siblings have no year’s support claim at all, which sometimes surprises families who assume it is a general inheritance shortcut. It is not. It is a support right for a spouse and minors.
What is the deadline, and what happens if you miss it?
Two years from the date of death. Miss it and the right is gone, permanently, and the estate has to go through ordinary administration instead. This is the single most important fact on this page, because year’s support is often the difference between a sale that closes in a few weeks and one that takes many months through a full administration with a notice to creditors. If your spouse died within the last two years and the house is still in their name, this is worth a phone call to a probate attorney this week. If the two years have already run, the path is the ordinary one, and do you have to go through probate to sell a house in Georgia covers what that looks like.
How does the process work?
The petition is filed in the probate court of the county where the deceased lived, and it does not require an executor or administrator to have been appointed first. The court issues a citation, and notice is published and served on interested parties, which gives the estate’s heirs and creditors a window to object. If nobody files a valid objection, the court has no discretion in the matter: it must enter the order setting apart the property applied for. If someone does object, the court holds a hearing and decides, and the question is usually whether the amount requested is more than twelve months of the family’s prior standard of living justifies. An uncontested year’s support is a relatively short and clerical proceeding. A contested one is litigation.
Once the order is entered and recorded in the county’s real estate records, it operates as the link in the chain of title. That recorded order is what a closing attorney will look for.
What does year’s support clear, and what survives it?
Year’s support sits ahead of most of the estate’s unsecured debt. Credit card balances, medical bills, and general creditor claims against the estate do not follow the property into the spouse’s hands, which is why it is used for insolvent estates where the debts would otherwise consume the house. It also takes the property out of the estate entirely, so it is not administered with the rest.
What it does not do is strip a lender’s security interest. A purchase money mortgage, a security deed, or another perfected lien on the house survives the award intact. The spouse takes the house subject to the loan, and the loan still has to be paid off or the house sold to satisfy it. Property tax liens and other liens already attached to the real estate also remain. A reverse mortgage runs on its own timetable after the borrower’s death and is not slowed down by a year’s support petition, so if one exists, both clocks are running at once and the reverse mortgage clock is usually the shorter one.
How does selling work after a year’s support award?
Like any ordinary sale, which is the point. The spouse or the children hold title in their own names, so they sign the deed themselves. There is no executor to consult, no administrator to get leave from, no estate bank account the proceeds have to route through, and no waiting for the estate to close. Where the award goes to a surviving spouse alone, it conveys fee simple ownership. Where it goes to a spouse and minor children together, the children’s interests are involved and a closing attorney will want to see how the order allocated them before setting up the closing, so raise that early rather than at the table.
A house can also be put under contract while the petition is pending, with the closing set to follow the order. That is the version that saves the most time, and it is how families avoid carrying an empty house through the whole process.
Can you sell the house as-is after year’s support?
Yes, and for most families that is the practical answer. We buy houses across metro Atlanta in their current condition, including houses that still hold everything the family has not had the time or the heart to sort through. Take the keepsakes and the paperwork and leave the rest; our guide to estate cleanouts before a sale covers how that works. Send us the address and tell us where things stand: when your spouse died, whether the petition has been filed or granted, and what is still owed against the house. We make a written cash offer, usually within about 24 hours, with the mortgage payoff and any back taxes netted out so you see the actual number before you decide anything. Every closing goes through a Georgia closing attorney, who will coordinate with the attorney handling the petition and set the closing after the order is recorded, in as little as 7 to 14 days once title is clear. No repairs, no cleanout, no commissions. Mighty Estates, LLC is family owned by Brandon and Venessa Barnes, based at 1954 Airport Rd Ste 133 in Chamblee, buying Georgia houses since 2016. Call (770) 799-8760 or send the address for an offer with no obligation.