Publication Rates Set to Increase in January 2024
November 07, 2023In the 2023 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly, HB 254 was passed and signed by Governor Brain Kemp on May 3, 2023. This Bill includes an amendment to O.C.G.A. § 9-13-143(a) changing the rates for legal advertisements.
Beginning January 1, 2024, the publication fee schedule is as follows:
Rockdale County Probate Court becomes an Article 6 Court
July 01, 2022On July 1, 2022, as a result of the 2020 United States Census, the Rockdale County Probate Court became an Article 6 Probate Court. Under the Georgia law, Article VI Probate Courts are those courts in any Georgia county having a population of more than 90,000 according to the most recent United States decennial census. See O.C.G.A . Sections 15-9-4 and 15-9-6. According to the 2020 United States Census Rockdale County’s population is 93,570.
Rockdale County Probate Court now has expanded jurisdiction beyond its former jurisdiction as a non-Article 6 Probate Court. As an Article 6 Probate Court, Rockdale County Probate Court now has concurrent jurisdiction with the Rockdale County Superior court in proceedings regarding:
- Declaratory judgments involving fiduciaries;
- Tax motivated estate planning of wards’ property;
- Approval of certain settlement agreements;
- Adjudication of actions involving trusts, trustees and trust directors;
- Adjudication of petitions to construe a power of attorney or review the agent’s actions;
- Adjudication of petitions to grant an agent authority under a power of attorney;
- Adjudication of petitions for direction or construction of will or trust;
Whereas non-Article 6 Courts cannot conduct jury trials, Rockdale County Probate Court can now conduct jury trials. Further, whereas appeals from non-Article 6 Courts are made to the county superior court, appeals from the Rockdale County Probate Court are now made to the Georgia Court of Appeals or the Georgia Supreme Court, as is appropriate.
Cases filed or opened after July 1, 2022, will be considered an Article 6 case and will file Article 6 procedures for the history of the case. The opening of the case means the first pleading that is filed for the case. See Porter v. Frazier, 57 Ga. 614 (1987).
Further, the Georgia Code requires Article 6 Probate Court judges to have the same qualifications as the county Superior Court judge, including being an attorney admitted to practice law for at least seven years.
Rockdale County Probate Judge Gary Washington has been admitted to practice law in Georgia for more than thirty years.