HEIRS ARE PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR CONDOMINIUM ASSESSMENTS

HEIRS ARE PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR CONDOMINIUM ASSESSMENTS
FOLLOWING DEATH OF INTESTATE UNIT OWNER IN GEORGIA
BY: THOMAS E. CARDONE, ESQ.

If you own a condominium in Georgia, you are responsible for paying condominium assessments. Georgia courts have traditionally enforced the obligation to pay assessments as an absolute obligation. In an important case for Community Associations, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled in a recent case that this obligation could be imposed on the heir of a Unit Owner who died “intestate”, which is the legal term for dying without a Will.

In Villas at Stone Mountain Condominium Association, Inc. v. Blair, the owner of a condominium unit died “intestate.” Approximately a year and a half after the unit owner’s death, the owner’s unit was sold at foreclosure. The condominium association filed a lawsuit against the daughter of the intestate unit owner to collect condominium assessments that went unpaid during the year-and-a-half period between the unit owner’s death and foreclosure. The association essentially argued that pursuant to Georgia’s Probate Code, the daughter of the unit owner who died intestate inherited title to her mother’s condominium unit immediately upon the mother’s death and became personally obligated to pay the condominium assessments from that date forward.

The daughter fought back, pointing out that she never lived in the unit, never leased the unit, and never received any financial benefit from the unit. She initially argued that no legal interest in the condominium unit was ever conveyed to her. Additionally, the daughter argued that under Georgia law, a creditor of an intestate decedent (i.e. the association) cannot recover a judgment against the decedent’s heirs (i.e. the daughter) for the personal obligation of the decedent (i.e. the mother). The trial court accepted the daughter’s argument. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the ruling of the trial court holding that the assessments that accrued after the mother’s death were not obligations of the mother, but rather the personal obligation of the daughter since she became the legal owner of the unit immediately upon her mother’s death. The Court of Appeals noted that the Probate Code allowed the daughter to renounce her interest in her mother’s condominium unit, but she had not done so. Thus, the daughter became personally liable for condominium assessments accruing from and after her mother’s death.