GA Code § 5-6-16 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 5 - Appeal and Error|Chapter 6 - Certiorari and Appeals to Appellate Courts Generally|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 5-6-16. Time for Appeal by Personal Representative Where Party Dies After Trial; Effect of Entry of Appeal and of Failure to Enter Appeal; When Appeal Heard

    When either the plaintiff or the defendant dies after a case has been tried and before the expiration of the time within which the party, if living, might have entered an appeal, and no appeal has been entered, the personal representative of the estate of the deceased party may enter an appeal within 30 days from the time such personal representative qualifies.   If an appeal is not entered within the time prescribed in this Code section, judgment may be entered and execution issued as though the deceased party were alive, without making the personal representative a party.   For purposes of this subsection, the term "personal representative" includes temporary administrators, subject to the provisions of Code Sections 53-6-31 and 53-7-4.       When an appeal is entered as provided in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section, it shall not be necessary to revive the action, but it shall be revived by the appealing party giving notice to the adverse party within 30 days from the time of entering the appeal.   When a defendant appeals as provided in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section, the case shall stand for trial on the appeal docket at the first term of the court after the expiration of six months from the qualification of the personal representative.     Nothing in paragraph (2) of subsection (a) or paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this Code section shall impair the operation or limit the applicability of Article 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 53.    (Laws 1843, Cobb's 1851 Digest, pp. 474, 502; Code 1863, §§ 3358, 3359, 3361; Code 1868, §§ 3377, 3378, 3380; Code 1873, §§ 3425, 3426, 3428; Code 1882, §§ 3425, 3426, 3428; Civil Code 1895, §§ 5023, 5024, 5026; Civil Code 1910, §§ 5605, 5606, 5608; Code 1933, §§ 3-408, 3-409, 3-411; Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 2-1/HB 865.)    The 2020 amendment,  effective January 1, 2021, in subsection (a), designated the first sentence as paragraph (a)(1) and the second sentence as paragraph (a)(2), in paragraph (a)(1), substituted "personal" for "legal", inserted "estate of the", and substituted "such personal representative" for "he", inserted "personal" in paragraph (a)(2), and added paragraph (a)(3); in subsection (b), designated the first sentence as paragraph (b)(1) and the second sentence as paragraph (b)(2), inserted "paragraph (1) of" in paragraph (b)(1), and in paragraph (b)(2), inserted "as provided in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section" and substituted "personal representative" for "executor or administrator"; and rewrote subsection (c), which read: "In case of the death or removal from office of any executor or administrator pending such proceedings as are prescribed in subsections (a) and (b) of this Code section, an administrator de bonis non may be made a party in like manner."   Cross references.   - Death of party, Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia, Rule 10.   Parties, Rules of the Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia, Rule 39.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Section changed common law. Mims v. McKenzie, 22 Ga. App. 571, 96 S.E. 441 (1918).   Administrator de bonis non may be made party to suit in county of executor's residence.    - Administrator de bonis non is permitted to be made party to suit pending in county of residence of the executor. Walton v. Gill, 46 Ga. 600 (1872).   No application to foreign executors.    - Rule that an administrator de bonis may be made party to a suit in the county of the executor's residence does not apply to suits by foreign executors. Jones v. Lamar, 77 Ga. 149 (1886).    Section inapplicable when plaintiff executor died before trial. Edwards v. Sosebee, 188 Ga. 602, 4 S.E.2d 473 (1939).    Cited in Waldrop v. Nolan, 192 Ga. 234, 15 S.E.2d 225 (1941); Eubank v. Barber-Colman Co., 115 Ga. App. 217, 154 S.E.2d 638 (1967).   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 1 Am. Jur. 2d, Abatement, Survival, and Revival, §§ 46, 103.   C.J.S.   - 1 C.J.S., Abatement and Revival, §§ 133, 138 et seq. 67A C.J.S., Parties, § 80 et seq.   ALR.    - Right of administrator de bonis non to recover proceeds of personal property of the estate converted by his predecessor, 3 A.L.R. 1252.    Right to revive by amendment an action dismissed by judgement entered upon plea of abatement or demurrer, 106 A.L.R. 570.    Death of principal defendant as abating or dissolving garnishment or attachment, 131 A.L.R. 1146.    Death of party to divorce suit after final divorce decree, but pending appeal or period allowed for appeal, 148 A.L.R. 1111.    Right of substitution of successive personal representatives as party plaintiff, 164 A.L.R. 702.    Order granting or denying revival of action after death of party as final order subject to appeal, 167 A.L.R. 261.   Continuance of civil case because of illness or death of party, 68 A.L.R.2d 470.   Validity of exception for specific kind of tort action in survival statute, 77 A.L.R.3d 1349.   Effect of death of party to divorce proceeding pending appeal or time allowed for appeal, 33 A.L.R.4th 47.   Abatement of state criminal case by accused's death pending appeal of conviction - modern cases, 80 A.L.R.4th 189.   Abatement effects of accused's death before appellate review of federal criminal conviction, 80 A.L.R. Fed. 446.