In Re Estate of Robert Adolphus Watson

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ December 15, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A26D0225. IN RE ESTATE OF ROBERT ADOLPHUS WATSON, DECEASED.

In October 2025, the Carroll County Probate Court issued an order granting a petition to probate the last will and testament of Robert Adolphus Watson and authorizing the appointment of an administrator for the decedent’s estate. Cathy Maria Watson, the daughter of the decedent who filed an objection to the will in the probate court, has filed a discretionary application seeking to appeal the October order. For the following reasons, we grant this application. “[T]his Court has long held that an order granting a petition to probate a will and appointing an executor is a final and appealable judgment.” In re Estate of Travis, 376 Ga. App. 860, 861-862 (1) (921 SE2d 414) (2025); see also OCGA § 5-6-34 (a)(9) (authorizing a direct appeal from “[a]ll judgments or orders sustaining motions to dismiss a caveat to the probate of a will”). Under OCGA § 15-9-123 (a), a party in a civil case in probate court governed by Article 6 shall have the right of appeal to an appellate court without first seeking review in superior court. Under Title 15, Chapter 9, Article 6, a probate court is defined as “a probate court of a county having a population of more than 90,000 persons according to the United States decennial census of 2010 or any future such census.” OCGA § 15-9-120 (2). According to the 2020 census, Carroll County had a population of 119,148.1 Thus, because the Probate Court of Carroll County meets the

1 See https://data.census.gov/all?q=carroll++county+georgia.

statutory definition of a probate court under Article 6, Watson has a right of direct appeal to this Court, and no application was required. See O’Regan v. Brennan, 204 Ga. App. 50 (418 SE2d 389) (1992). Accordingly, this application for discretionary appeal is hereby GRANTED pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Watson shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal in the probate court, if she has not already done so. OCGA § 5-6-35 (g). The clerk of the probate court is directed to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 12/15/2025 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.