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Best Professional Liability Coverage LawyerCare.com • 800.292.1036 for Georgia Lawyers & Firms T urn to smarter tools for legal research. Visualize search results to see the best results Only Fastcase features an interactive map of search results, so you can see the most important cases at a glance. Long lists of text search results (even when sorted well), only show one ranking at a time. Sorting the most relevant case to the top might sort the most cited case to the bottom. Sorting the most cited case to the top might sort the ® most recent case to the bottom. Fastcase’s patent-pending Interactive Timeline view shows all of the search results on a single map, illustrating how the results occur over time, how relevant each case is Smarter by association.based on your search terms, how many Log in at www.gabar.org times each case has been “cited generally” by all other cases, and how many times each case has been cited only by the super-relevant cases within the search result (“cited within” search results). The visual map provides volumes more information than any list of search results – you have to see it to believe it! LTN Free to members of the State Bar of Georgia. #1 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey Members of the State Bar of Georgia now have access to Fastcase for free. Unlimited search using Fastcase’s smarter legal research tools, unlimited printing, and unlimited reference support, all free to active members of the State Bar of Georgia. Log in at www.gabar.org and click the Fastcase logo. And don’t forget that Fastcase’s free apps for iPhone, Android and iPad connect to your bar account automatically by Mobile Sync. All free as a benet of membership in the State Bar of Georgia. Quick Dial Editorial Board Attorney Discipline 800-334-6865 Editor-in-Chief ext. 720 Bridgette E. Eckerson 404-527-8720 Consumer Assistance Program 404-527-8759 Members Conference Room Reservations 404-419-0155 Julia Anderson Christina Virginia Hendrix Fee Arbitration 404-527-8750 Robert Henry Beer Michelle J. Hirsch CLE Transcripts 404-527-8710 Diversity Program 404-527-8754 Donald P. Boyle Jr. Michael Eric Hooper ETHICS Helpline 800-682-9806 John Clay Bush Hollie G. Manheimer 404-527-8741 Clayton Owen Carmack Edward Alexander Marshall Georgia Bar Foundation/IOLTA 404-588-2240 Georgia Bar Journal 404-527-8791 James William Cobb Addison Johnson Schreck Lawyer Assistance Program 800-327-9631 Timothy Jerome Colletti Jack P. Smith III Lawyers Foundation of Georgia 404-659-6867 Lynn Gavin Pamela Y. 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Grant, 79-82 Submissions should be 10 to 12 pages, double-spaced (includ- ing endnotes) and on letter-size paper. Citations should con- L. Brett Lockwood, 95-97 Stephen E. Raville, 77-79 form to A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION (19th ed. 2010). Stephanie B. Manis, 93-95 Please address unsolicited articles to: Bridgette Eckerson, State Bar of Georgia, Communications Department, 104 Marietta St. NW, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30303. Authors will be notified Officers of the State Bar of Georgia of the Editorial Board’s decision regarding publication. Charles L. Ruffin President The Georgia Bar Journal welcomes the submission of news about local and circuit bar association happenings, Bar Patrise M. Perkins-Hooker President-Elect members, law firms and topics of interest to attorneys in Robin Frazer Clark Immediate Past President Georgia. Please send news releases and other informa- tion to: Sarah I. Coole, Director of Communications, 104 Robert J. Kauffman Treasurer Marietta St. NW, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30303; phone: Rita A. Sheffey Secretary 404-527-8791; [email protected]. Darrell L. Sutton YLD President Disabilities V. Sharon Edenfield YLD President-Elect If you have a disability which requires printed Jon Pannell YLD Past President materials in alternate formats, please contact the ADA coordinator at 404-527-8700 or 800-334-6865. Communications Committee Headquarters Jay Cook Co-Chair 104 Marietta St. NW, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30303 800-334-6865, 404-527-8700, FAX 404-527-8717 Robert Ingram Co-Chair Visit us on the Web at www.gabar.org. South Georgia Office Communications Staff 244 E. Second St. (31794) P.O. Box 1390 Sarah I. Coole Director Tifton, GA 31793-1390 800-330-0446, 229-387-0446, FAX 229-382-7435 Jennifer R. Mason Assistant Director Coastal Georgia Office Derrick W. Stanley Section Liaison 18 E. Bay St. Stephanie J. Wilson Administrative Assistant Savannah, GA 31401-1225 877-239-9910, 912-239-9910, FAX 912-239-9970 Publisher’s Statement The Georgia Bar Journal (ISSN-1085-1437) is published six times per year (February, April, June, August, October, December) with a special issue in November by the State Bar of Georgia, 104 Marietta St. NW, Suite 100, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Copyright State Bar of Georgia 2013. One copy of each issue is furnished to members as part of their State Bar dues. Subscriptions: $36 to non-members. Single copies: $6. Periodicals postage paid in Atlanta, Georgia and additional The opinions expressed in the Georgia Bar Journal mailing offices. Opinions and conclusions expressed in articles herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the are those of the authors. The views expressed herein Editorial Board, Communications Committee, Officers or Board are not necessarily those of the State Bar of Georgia, of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia. Advertising rate card will be furnished upon request. Publishing of an advertisement its Board of Governors or its Executive Committee. does not imply endorsement of any product or service offered. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to same address. 10 2FWREHU9ROXPH1XPEHU GBJ Legals Departments 10 4 From the President 26 Live-In Lover Complaints: 8 From the YLD President Think Twice Before You File 32 Bench & Bar by Deborah S. Ebel and Margaret E. Simpson 38 Office of the General Counsel 16 40 Lawyer Discipline A Primer on Heirs Property Law Practice Management and Georgia’s New Uniform 42 Partition of Heirs Property Act: 44 Section News 30 Protecting Owners 50 Member Benefits of Heirs Property 52 Writing Matters by Crystal Chastain Baker 56 Professionalism Page and Shunta Vincent McBride 62 In Memoriam GBJ Features 64 CLE Calendar 24 68 Notices Georgia Bar Foundation 71 Classified Resources Awards $435,822 in Grants 72 Advertisers Index 42 by Len Horton 26 State Bar of Georgia Election Overview by Judy Hill 28 Notice of Expiring Board Terms 30 56 Crisp County Courthouse at Cordele: The Grand Old Courthouses of Georgia by Wilber W. Caldwell From the President by Charles L. Ruffin Photo by Zach Porter Photography Georgia Legal Legends: Horace T. Ward and Ben F. Johnson Jr. Second in a series of historical profiles in observance of the 50th anniversary of the State Bar of Georgia. ugust of this year was the 50th anniver- During the 1950s and early 1960s, the dominant public policy issue in Georgia—for all three branches sary of the March on Washington and Dr. of government, the rule of law and society in general— was school desegregation. A significant part of the Martin Luther civil rights movement was the A effort to gain admission for King Jr.’s famous “I Have “As we also celebrate the 50th African-American students into Georgia’s primary and a Dream” speech. Dr. King anniversary of the State Bar secondary schools, colleges and universities—including called on America to rise up of Georgia this year, I would our state’s law schools. Efforts to desegregate and live out the true mean- like to take this opportunity Georgia’s law schools—pub- lic and private—were cen- ing of its creed that all men to celebrate the legacy of two tered on two separate cases, prominently featuring two are created equal and should men who would become Georgia lawyers who did their household names in our be judged not by the color of state’s legal community: part to live out that creed.” Horace T.