Adverse possession: 20 years, or 7 with color of title
Georgia rule: twenty years of adverse possession confers title by prescription against everyone except the state and persons under disability. The shortened seven-year period applies only when the possessor holds under color of title. Color of title means written evidence of title; a defective deed still counts.
Worked example: a possessor enters on March 1, 2019. Under a defective deed, that is color of title and the seven-year period applies: 2019 + 7 = March 1, 2026. With no writing at all, the period is 20 years: 2019 + 20 = March 1, 2039.
The trap: 10-year and 15-year periods come from other states and are the most common wrong picks. Shortening the no-writing branch to ten years is the single most frequent error.
Leases: usufruct or estate for years
Georgia rule: a lease for less than five years conveys only a usufruct — a right simply to possess and enjoy the real estate. No estate passes out of the landlord, the usufruct may not be conveyed without the landlord's consent, and it is not subject to levy and sale. A three-year commercial lease is a usufruct.
A lease of five years or more is presumed to create an estate for years, which passes as realty and may be assigned freely. A leasehold is not a fee simple determinable, and not a life estate, because a life estate is measured by a life rather than a fixed term.
Intestate shares and the one-third floor
Georgia rule: the surviving spouse shares equally with the children, but the spouse's portion is never less than one-third.
Worked example: a decedent leaves a spouse and three children. Equal shares among four takers would be 1/4 each, which falls below the floor. So the spouse takes 1/3, and the three children divide the remaining 2/3, or 2/9 each.
Giving everyone 1/4 applies the equal-share rule without the floor, the most common error. Year's support is an additional protection, not a substitute for the intestate share.