Court Opinion

ID: 9579243
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:52:57.866197+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:08.175664
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Almand, Justice.
The only contention made in the motion for a rehearing which requires comment, is that the heirs at law of the testatrix, not being named as devisees or legatees in the purported will, have no interest in the estate, and are not excused from setting forth a meritorious defense to the probate of the will, and do not come within the purview óf Code § 110-709; it being asserted that “The right of the plaintiffs in error to inherit from Lizzie Foster is hinged on the avoidance of the will, and unless this is done, no interest is shown to exist in them.”
A will breaks the descent of property from the testatrix to her next of kin, but before it becomes operative to disinherit an heir at law, it must be proved and probated. It is necessary to probate a will before it can be recognized by the law as an instrument passing title to any kind of property. Johnson v. Sirmans, 69 Ga. 617 (1); New v. Nichols, 73 Ga. 143 (2); Rogers v. Rogers, 78 Ga. 688 (3) (3 S. E. 451); Chidsey v. Brookes, 130 Ga. 218 (2) (60 S. E. 529). The plaintiffs in this case, as heirs at law, had a right to caveat the will and, when the will was probated without notice to them, or waiver of service, or their being properly made parties to the probate proceedings, the judgment was ineffective as to them. Their rights and interests as heirs at law in the estate having never been severed by a valid probate, they have the right to remove the cloud from their title, created by the judgment of probate, and to an op*528portunity to be heard in court before their interest received by descent is taken away by a will duly probated. To hold otherwise would be to deny them due process of law.

Motion denied.

All the Justices concur, except Duckworth, C.J., and Atkinson, P.J., who dissent.