What Is Georgia’s Year’s Support Law and How Does It Affect a Second Marriage

Georgia's Year's Support law lets a surviving spouse claim part of your estate before your own children see a dime, even children from a first marriage. That claim can outrank your will. A revocable living trust moves your assets out of its reach, so you decide who gets what.

By Melissa Breyer, Esq. Updated 6 min read

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Georgia has a law called Year’s Support. It lets your surviving spouse ask a court for money from your estate, paid before almost everything else, including what you left your kids in a will. In a second marriage, your kids from a first marriage could get less than you planned, or nothing at all.

This is not rare. It is a normal part of Georgia probate. Any surviving spouse can file for it. It does not matter if the marriage lasted forty years or four. Most blended families never hear about Year’s Support until it is already happening.

This article explains what Year’s Support does. It shows how it can outrank your own kids in a second marriage. It also shows how a revocable living trust keeps your assets safe from this law. For the full guide to Georgia families, see Estate Planning for Georgia Families.

What Is Georgia’s Year’s Support Law?

Georgia’s Year’s Support law is O.C.G.A. § 53-3-1. It lets a surviving spouse ask the probate court for a year of money from the estate. Minor children can be part of the request too. This money comes from estate property. It covers the family for the first 12 months after death.

The law does not set a dollar amount. A judge decides the amount. The judge looks at the family’s standard of living. The judge also looks at what the estate can pay. The spouse must file within two years of the death, in the county where the person lived.

Why Year’s Support Can Outrank Your Own Children

Year’s Support is not treated like a normal claim. Georgia law treats it like a cost of running the estate, almost like a funeral bill. This gives it priority over most other claims, including what a will leaves to your own kids.

Your will still says how your property should be split. But Year’s Support gets paid first, out of that same pool of money. If the court awards a large amount, there may be little left for your will’s own gifts.

How This Plays Out in a Second Marriage

Picture a father with two adult kids from his first marriage. He remarries later in life. His will leaves his house and savings to his two kids, split evenly.

He dies. His second wife files for Year’s Support. The court can give her a year of support from that same house and savings. This can shrink what his kids get. In a smaller estate, it can wipe out their share completely. It does not matter how long the second marriage lasted. It does not matter how clear the will was. Year’s Support applies either way.

What Year’s Support Does Not Reach: A Funded Trust

Year’s Support only reaches your probate estate, meaning property still titled in your own name when you die. Property already moved into a funded revocable living trust is different. It is not part of your probate estate. Georgia’s Year’s Support law cannot touch it.

This is the real fix. A trust does not fight your spouse’s right to file for Year’s Support. It removes the assets that claim could reach, before the question ever comes up. For many second marriages, the right structure is a QTIP trust. Your spouse gets income from the trust for life, and your kids get what is left when your spouse dies. A trust is not the only thing outside a Year’s Support claim’s reach. Life insurance and retirement accounts with a named beneficiary, and property owned jointly with rights of survivorship, also pass outside the probate estate. A trust matters most for real estate, cash, and other property that does not already have a beneficiary attached, since that is where most blended-family disputes actually happen.

Where the property is titled Reachable by a Year’s Support claim Who decides how it’s split
Your own name alone (probate estate) Yes The probate court, after your spouse files
A funded revocable living trust No You, in the trust you signed while alive

Only one of these two choices protects your kids completely. A funded trust does. Property still in your own name does not.

The Assumptions That Don’t Hold Up

A few common beliefs feel true. They do not hold up under Georgia law:

  • “My will already protects my kids from my first marriage.” A will says how property should be split. It does not stop a Year’s Support claim. That claim still gets paid first, from the same property. Some wills try to fix this with a clause saying a spouse’s inheritance is “in lieu of Year’s Support,” forcing a choice between the two. But your spouse can still choose Year’s Support if it is worth more, so this clause alone does not remove the risk.
  • “My spouse would never actually file for this.” Filing does not require proof of need. Any surviving spouse can file, no matter their own money or income. A prenuptial or postnuptial agreement can also waive a spouse’s right to Year’s Support, but only if both spouses agree to sign one. A trust protects the same assets without needing your spouse’s agreement at all.
  • “This only matters in a long second marriage.” Georgia sets no minimum length for a marriage. A short second marriage has the same right to file.
  • “This is only a problem in a large estate.” A smaller estate can be hit just as hard. Year’s Support can take a bigger share of a smaller estate, not less.

This is one of several problems blended families run into. Problems With Assuming Georgia Recognizes Common-Law Marriage or Domestic Partnerships covers another one.

What This Costs and What to Expect

Protecting a blended family usually takes more than a will. A $5,500 Family-tier trust package is built for this. It fits a household where a spouse and kids need to be named separately, like a second marriage with kids from a first marriage. It starts with a revocable living trust. Once your assets move into it, Year’s Support cannot reach them.

If your estate is simpler, the $3,500 Foundation tier covers the same core documents: your trust, a pour-over will, a power of attorney, and an advance healthcare directive. Melissa Breyer builds your plan around your own family, never a generic template. See the full breakdown of every package tier to compare.

A Year’s Support risk is just one problem blended families face without a plan. Estate Planning for Blended Families in Georgia covers the full picture. Estate Planning Costs for Blended Families With Kids in Georgia breaks down what each tier includes.

How to Protect Your Second Marriage and Your Kids From This

None of this needs a fight with your spouse. It needs a written plan. Get it in place before Year’s Support is ever on the table.

Your first call is free, about 15 minutes, and happens by phone with Shawn. If you move forward, your next step is the Design Meeting with Melissa, which is credited toward your plan.

Before the Will What Year's Support Gets Paid Ahead Of Year's Support gets paid ahead of almost every other claim on the estate, including what your will leaves to your kids.
12 Months How Long a Year's Support Award Covers A surviving spouse can petition for a year of support from the estate, no matter how long the marriage lasted.
Zero Reach What a Funded Trust Keeps Out of Year's Support's Way Year's Support only reaches probate property. A funded revocable trust moves your assets out of that reach entirely.

The Fix

The 5 Steps to Protect Your Second Marriage and Your Kids

Move Your Major Assets Into a Funded Trust

Retitling your house, accounts, and other major property into a revocable living trust takes them out of the probate estate Year's Support reaches.

Name Both Your Spouse and Your Kids Directly

A trust lets you write out exactly what your current spouse gets and what your kids from a first marriage get, instead of leaving it to a court's default rules.

Update Your Beneficiary Designations to Match

Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by beneficiary form, not your will or trust. Update them so they match the rest of your plan.

Talk to Your Spouse About the Plan While You're Both Alive

A written, agreed plan avoids the exact surprise a Year's Support petition creates after death.

Put It in Writing With The Hive Law

A signed plan is what actually protects your family. An unwritten understanding does not hold up in probate court.

Melissa Breyer

Melissa Breyer

Georgia Estate Planning Attorney

Melissa Breyer is a Georgia estate planning attorney who works exclusively on trust-based estate planning and LLC formation. She personally designs and drafts every plan at The Hive Law after the initial call. Every plan is built from scratch for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Georgia’s Year’s Support law comes from O.C.G.A. § 53-3-1. A surviving spouse can use it to ask the probate court for a year of financial help, paid out of the estate. The request can include minor children as well. That support is meant to carry the family through the twelve months right after a death.

A surviving spouse’s Year’s Support claim can add up to more than a will leaves them. This claim gets paid before most other claims on the estate, including gifts a will makes to other family members. So a court award can add to what the will already promised.

Georgia law sets no minimum length for a marriage. A short second marriage carries the same right to file for Year’s Support as a spouse from a decades-long marriage.

A Year’s Support award can shrink what kids from a first marriage receive. The award gets paid before the gifts a will makes to them. In a smaller estate, it can take most or all of what was left.

A will alone does not protect kids from a first marriage from a Year’s Support claim. A will says how probate property should be split, but a Year’s Support award gets paid first, from that same property, ahead of the will’s own instructions.

A revocable living trust protects your family by moving assets out of the probate estate before death. Georgia’s Year’s Support law only reaches property still titled in the deceased person’s own name. Property already moved into a funded trust sits outside that reach.

A surviving spouse has up to two years from the date of death to file for Year’s Support. The petition goes to the probate court in the county where the person lived.

Georgia law sets no fixed dollar limit on a Year’s Support award. A probate judge sets the amount based on the family’s standard of living and what the estate can pay, so the size of an award changes from case to case.

A second-marriage spouse has the exact same right to file for Year’s Support as a spouse from a first marriage. Georgia law does not treat marriages differently based on order or length.

An old estate plan often assumes only your first family. It leaves your new spouse’s Year’s Support rights unaddressed, and your kids from a first marriage open to a claim nobody planned around. Updating your plan, ideally with a funded trust, closes that gap.

A formal objection called a Caveat lets anyone with an interest in the estate, including children from a prior marriage, challenge a Year’s Support claim. Once filed, the surviving spouse has to prove to the court why the amount they asked for is actually needed. This turns into a court fight either way, which is exactly what a funded trust is built to avoid.

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