The Hive Law, Georgia Estate Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the most common questions Georgia families ask about estate planning, elder law, and probate.
Trusts, Wills & Powers of Attorney
Estate Planning
A revocable living trust is a legal document that holds your assets during your lifetime and distributes them to your beneficiaries after you die, without going through probate court. You remain in full control as the trustee while you are alive. You can change or revoke the trust at any time.
A will alone does not avoid probate in Georgia. When you die with a will, your estate still goes through the Georgia probate court process. The simple probate cases we've handled have taken 13 months and cost families $14,700. A properly funded revocable living trust avoids probate. Most Georgia families benefit from having both. A trust serves as the primary document, and a pour-over will serves as a safety net.
At The Hive Law, estate planning is flat-fee. A free 15-minute call with Shawn gives you a price for your situation and tells you whether this is the right fit. If you move forward, the next step is a 60-minute Design Meeting with Shawn and Melissa, which is credited toward your plan. You will know the full cost before you commit to anything. We do not charge by the hour and we do not send surprise invoices.
A pour-over will is a safety net document that works alongside your trust. If you die owning assets that were never transferred into your trust, the pour-over will directs those assets into your trust through probate. It ensures nothing is accidentally left outside your plan.
A financial power of attorney authorizes a person you choose (your agent) to manage your finances if you become incapacitated. This includes paying bills, managing investments, filing taxes, and handling real estate. Without one, your family may need to go to court to get that authority.
An advance healthcare directive documents your medical wishes and names someone to make healthcare decisions for you if you cannot speak for yourself. It tells doctors and hospitals what treatment you do and do not want. Without one, your family has to guess, or fight in court over your care.
Most real estate, bank accounts, investment accounts, and business interests should be transferred into your trust. Life insurance and retirement accounts (IRAs, 401ks) typically should not go inside the trust. They pass by beneficiary designation instead. Your asset list is reviewed at your Design Meeting, and the firm gives you written instructions for what needs to be retitled.
Georgia's intestacy laws decide who gets your assets. Your estate goes through probate, a public court process that takes 13 months on average. The court appoints someone to manage your estate. Your minor children's guardianship may need court approval. If you own a business, it may be frozen until the court appoints someone with authority to act.
Your documents are ready for you to review about 2 to 3 weeks after your Design Meeting. Most families sign about 4 to 6 weeks after that meeting, depending on how quickly they finish their review. The process is: a free call with Shawn, a Design Meeting with Shawn and Melissa, you review every document with Melissa in plain language, then you sign. We do not rush your review. You will understand every document before you sign.
A properly funded revocable living trust avoids Georgia probate. The key word is funded. A trust that was signed but never had assets transferred into it does not avoid probate. As part of a trust package, The Hive Law prepares and records the deed that moves your home into the trust and gives you written instructions for retitling your accounts.
Medicaid, Long-Term Care & Nursing Home Planning
Elder Law
Medicaid planning is the legal process of structuring your assets so you can qualify for Georgia Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, while protecting as much of your wealth as possible for your family. Georgia Medicaid has strict asset and income limits. Planning ahead can mean the difference between a family losing everything and a family preserving most of what they built.
A nursing home in Georgia costs about $8,821 a month for a shared room and about $9,429 a month for a private room. That is about $105,850 to $113,150 a year. Without a plan, that cost generally comes out of your own savings until you qualify for Medicaid.
When you ask Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, Medicaid looks back five years (60 months). This is a federal rule that Georgia applies. If you gave assets away during that time, the full value counts toward a penalty. If you sold them for less than they were worth, the part you were not paid for counts. During the penalty, Medicaid will not pay the nursing home, even if you otherwise qualify. A few kinds of transfers are exceptions, and each has conditions. This is why Medicaid planning works best when it starts years before a nursing home is needed.
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust that holds your home or savings outside your name. When you ask Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, Medicaid looks back five years. Assets you moved into the trust more than five years before that are outside the look-back, and Medicaid generally does not count the trust's principal, as long as none of it can ever be paid back to you. Income the trust earns still counts as your income. You give up control of the assets so they can pass to your family. No trust is a guarantee.
The Medicaid 5-year lookback means planning works best well before a crisis. The best time to start is in your 50s or early 60s, when you are healthy and have options. Families who wait until a diagnosis or a nursing home admission have far fewer tools available. Many of those tools take years to take effect.
Georgia has a Medicaid estate recovery program. After a Medicaid recipient dies, the state can make a claim against their estate (including their home) to recover what Medicaid paid. A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust funded more than five years before you apply is stronger protection for the home than a revocable trust. Because you no longer own what is in the trust, it is generally outside what Georgia Medicaid can claim after you pass. But Georgia's rules do mention trusts, any income or right to live in the home that you keep may still count, and no Georgia court has settled the question. So no trust is a guarantee. You cannot count on a revocable trust or a Transfer on Death Deed to keep the home out of the state's reach.
Georgia Probate Court Process
Probate
Probate is the legal process by which a court supervises the distribution of a deceased person's estate. In Georgia, probate is handled by the Probate Court in the county where the person lived. The court validates the will and appoints a personal representative. The personal representative notifies creditors, pays valid debts, and distributes what is left. The process is public record.
A straightforward Georgia probate takes 13 months on average. Complex estates (those with disputes, real estate in multiple states, business interests, or creditor claims) take 25 months on average. Every month in probate means ongoing court costs and attorney fees coming out of what your family inherits.
The simple probate cases we've handled have cost families $14,700 in attorney fees and court costs. The business or complex ones have cost $29,700. These costs come out of the estate before your beneficiaries receive their share.
You can avoid probate in Georgia with the right planning. The most effective way is a properly funded revocable living trust. Other tools include beneficiary designations on accounts and life insurance, joint ownership with right of survivorship, and Georgia's Transfer on Death Deed for real estate. Each tool has trade-offs. Melissa recommends the right combination based on your specific assets.
Creditors must be notified during probate and given an opportunity to file claims. The estate pays valid debts before beneficiaries receive anything. Secured debts like a mortgage stay with the property. Unsecured debts like credit cards and medical bills are paid from estate assets. Beneficiaries are generally not personally responsible for a deceased person's debts.
Georgia law has a narrow affidavit shortcut for small bank deposits. If a person dies without a will and has a deposit of $15,000 or less at a bank, Georgia law allows the bank to pay that money on an affidavit to the surviving spouse. If there is no spouse, it goes to the children, then the parents, then the brothers and sisters. The bank is allowed to do this but is not required to, and it may still ask for a probate court order. This shortcut is not available when the person left a will, and it does not transfer a home. Most Georgia families with real estate, investment accounts, or a will need standard probate unless they planned ahead with a trust.
Process, Fees & What to Expect
Working with The Hive Law
The Design Meeting is a 60-minute session with Shawn and Melissa Breyer, credited toward your plan. They review your assets, your family situation, and what you are currently exposed to. At the end of the session, you will know exactly what kind of plan you need and what it costs. Before this, a free 15-minute call with Shawn confirms it is the right fit for you. There is no obligation to move forward.
Melissa Breyer drafts every document.
The Hive Law does not serve clients outside Georgia. The Hive Law is licensed in Georgia and serves Georgia families only. If you are outside Georgia, we cannot help you. We recommend finding a licensed estate planning attorney in your state.
The Hive Law does not handle divorce, criminal defense, or personal injury cases. The Hive Law practices estate planning and elder law only. We do not handle criminal law, personal injury, immigration, or family law.
Find Out Where You Stand
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