O.C.G.A.
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
Except to the extent that the governing trust instrument clearly manifests an intention that the trustee shall or may favor one or more of the beneficiaries, a trustee shall administer a trust impartially based on what is fair and reasonable to all of the beneficiaries and with due
regard to the respective interests of income beneficiaries and remainder beneficiaries.
History
Code 1981, § 53-12-247, enacted by Ga. L. 2010, p. 579, § 1/SB 131.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Jury question as to whether duty breached. - Jury question was presented as to whether two trustees of their children’s trusts acted against the interests of the beneficiaries (their children) in bad faith by amending a partnership agreement to concentrate all voting power
in themselves to the exclusion of the beneficiaries, who otherwise would have become partners when they turned 45. Likewise, the trustees as partners owed duties to the trusts as partners in the partnership. Rollins v. Rollins, 338 Ga. App. 308, 790 S.E.2d 157 (2016).
PART 2 TRUSTEES’ POWERS Law reviews. - For annual survey on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary
administration, see 66 Mercer L. Rev. 231 (2014).
COMMENT This article preserves a collection of statutory powers formerly codified in Title 53, Chapter 13, Article 2 (OCGA § 53-13-50 et seq.). Virtually all trusts either include extensive express powers or incorporate by reference the powers set forth in Article 11, supra. The powers set forth in this chapter are relevant only to those rare trusts that fail to do so.
Notes of Decisions
Rollins Et Al. v. Rollins Et Al., 790 S.E.2d 157 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016).
· cites it 2× “]” OCGA § 53-12-247. Evaluating this question in light of the trust instrument and the Settlor’s intent, our law is clear that a trustee has a duty to exercise discretionary powers in good faith.”
Leigh Keng v. Susie Chang Keng (Ga. Ct. App. 2025).
· cites it 2× “” OCGA § 53-12-247. Beneficiaries of a trust are entitled to have it administered by trustees entirely at the service of the trust and above suspicion.”
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Rose McNeill (Ga. Ct. App. 2025).
· cites it 2× “And where a trust has successive beneficiaries, “[e]xcept to the extent that the governing trust instrument clearly manifests an intention that the trustee shall or may favor one or more of the beneficiaries, a trustee shall administer a trust impartially based on what is fair…”
James Farmer v. Christie Lynn Mitchell (Ga. Ct. App. 2025).
“9 OCGA § 53-12-241 (a); a duty to “administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries,” OCGA § 53-12-246 (a); and, unless the trust instrument “clearly manifests an intention that the trustee shall or may favor” certain beneficiaries, a duty to “administer a trust…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.