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.
(a) Transfer of property in trust shall require a transfer of legal title to the trustee. In any transfer of property or any interest in property, if a trust is named as a grantee, whether such trust is held under the laws of this state or of any other jurisdiction, then such transfer is deemed to have been made to the trustee of such trust as though the trustee of such trust had been named as grantee instead of the trust. (b) For any interest in real property to become trust property in a trust of which any transferor is a trustee, the instrument of conveyance shall additionally be recorded in the appropriate real property records.
History
Code 1981, § 53-12-25, enacted by Ga. L. 2010, p. 579, § 1/SB 131; Ga. L. 2018, p. 262, § 6/HB 121.
Annotations
Law reviews. - For annual survey on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary
administration, see 65 Mercer L. Rev. 295 (2013). For article on the 2018 amendment of this Code section, see 35 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 219 (2018).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Wrongful death claim did not comprise the res of a technical trust. - Creditors’ 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4) claim against a Chapter 13 debtor, their attorney, was dismissed because although the attorney failed to file a wrongful death complaint on the creditors’ behalf and represented to the creditors that the attorney had, the creditors failed to allege a contract or other agreement establishing a technical trust. The creditors’ wrongful
death cause of action did not comprise the res of a technical trust because under O.C.G.A. § 53-12-25 only property subject to transfer by the settler could become the subject matter of a trust, and under O.C.G.A. § 44-12-24 the creditors’ wrongful death action was non-transferable. Crisler v. Farr (In re Farr), No. 11-1009, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 1875 (Bankr. M.D. Ga. May 18, 2011). Retroactive application of statute
prohibited. - Rights of the decedent’s surviving spouse were already vested when the Revised Georgia Trust Code of 2010 (Revised Code), O.C.G.A. § 53-12-1 et seq., was enacted because under the terms of the amended trust agreement, the surviving spouse’s rights to the trust assets took effect upon the decedent’s death before the Revised Code took effect. Accordingly, any new obligation imposed by the Revised Code that would have impaired the surviving spouse’s right to possession could not be applied retroactively, and O.C.G.A. § 53-12-25 would have had no application to the trust if it,
in fact, created such a new obligation. Rose v. Waldrip, 316 Ga. App. 812, 730 S.E.2d 529 (2012), cert. denied, No. S12C1888, 2012 Ga. LEXIS 981 (Ga. 2012). Trial court improperly found that O.C.G.A. § 53-12-25(a) applied retroactively to the conveyance of a parcel of property because retroactive application of the statute could have impermissibly affected the beneficiary’s vested rights. Callaway v. Willard, 351 Ga. App. 1, 830 S.E.2d 464 (2019), cert. denied, No. S19C1589, 2020 Ga. LEXIS 165 (Ga. 2020).
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
12
cases, 1985–2019 · leading case:
Gibson v. Gibson, 801 S.E.2d 40 (Ga. 2017).
Gibson v. Gibson, 801 S.E.2d 40 (Ga. 2017).
· cites it 30× “Wife’s other claims are unavailing, as well, with one exception: we agree with her that transfers of the contents of two brokerage accounts into the trusts were ineffective under OCGA § 53-12-25 (a) because the *623 accounts erroneously listed Husband as trustee.”
Callaway v. Willard., 830 S.E.2d 464 (Ga. Ct. App. 2019).
· cites it 18× “Finally, Callaway argues that the trial court erred in finding that the Trust did not hold title to real property known as *476 Dowdy Farm until a conveyance of that property on May 12, 2017, because an earlier deed executed in 2007 was void for failing to comply with OCGA §…”
Rose v. Waldrip, 730 S.E.2d 529 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012).
· cites it 10× “In support of this argument, Linda and Joy rely upon OCGA § 53-12-25 which provides that the “[tjransfer of property to a trust shall require a transfer of legal title to the trustee.”
Speed v. Speed, 430 S.E.2d 348 (Ga. 1993).
· cites it 4× “1 Initially, the wife contends that because the husband is not a minor, incompetent, or spendthrift, a trust created for his benefit is invalid in its entirety under former OCGA § 53-12-25, see Stephens v. Stephens, 218 Ga.”
Forsyth Cnty. v. White, 532 S.E.2d 392 (Ga. 2000).
· cites it 2× “See generally OCGA § 53-12-25 (“Property may be added to an existing trust from any source in any manner if the addition is permitted by the trust instrument and the property is acceptable to the trustee.”
Matter of Craddock, 62 B.R. 583 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 1986).
· cites it 4× “O.C.G.A. § 53-12-25 provides that (a) Trust estates may be created for the benefit of any minor or incompetent person.”
Gibson v. Gibson (Ga. 2017).
· cites it 25× “Wife’s other claims are unavailing, as well, with one exception: we agree with her that transfers of the contents of two brokerage accounts into the trusts were ineffective under OCGA § 53-12-25 (a) because the accounts erroneously listed Husband as trustee.”
Odum v. Henry, 334 S.E.2d 304 (Ga. 1985).
· cites it 4× “In those instances where, as here, the trust is created for a person laboring under a disability which makes him or her incapable of managing his or her own property, the trust may be executed as to such person, and, in the absence of á stipulation to the contrary, the title and…”
Linda Rose v. Colleen Waldrip (Ga. Ct. App. 2012).
· cites it 10× “In support of this argument, Linda and Joy rely upon OCGA § 53-12-25 which provides that the “[t]ransfer of property to a trust shall require a transfer of legal title to the trustee.”
Morris v. Morris, 756 S.E.2d 616 (Ga. Ct. App. 2014).
· cites it 2× “6 See OCGA § 53-12-25 (a) (“Transfer of property to a trust shall require a transfer of legal title to the trustee.”
— 53-12-25(b) — 1 case
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