O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 53-7-54 (2019)

Breach of fiduciary duty

✓ O.C.G.A.: 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
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.
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(a) If a personal representative or temporary administrator commits a breach of fiduciary duty or threatens to commit a breach of fiduciary duty, a beneficiary of a testate estate or heir of an intestate estate shall have a cause of action: (1) To recover damages; (2) To compel the performance of the personal representative’s or temporary administrator’s duties; (3) To enjoin the commission of a breach of fiduciary duty; (4) To compel the redress of a breach of fiduciary duty by payment of money or otherwise; (5) To appoint another personal representative or temporary administrator to take possession of the estate property and administer the estate; (6) To remove the personal representative or temporary administrator; and (7) To reduce or deny compensation to the personal representative or temporary administrator.

(b) When estate assets are misapplied and can be traced in the hands of persons affected with notice of misapplication, a constructive trust shall attach to the assets.

(c) The provision of remedies for breach of fiduciary duty by this Code section does not prevent resort to any other appropriate remedy provided by statute or common law.

(d) In any action or proceeding brought pursuant to this Code section, service of notice or process shall be made in the manner provided by Chapter 11 of this title if Chapter 11 of this title is applicable under Code Section 53-11-1. If Chapter 11 of this title is not applicable to such action or proceeding under Code Section 53-11-1, such service shall be made in the manner provided by Chapter 11 of Title 9 unless Chapter 11 of such title is not applicable to such action or proceeding under Code Section 9-11-81.

History

Code 1981, § 53-7-54, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10; Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 1-45/HB 865.

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, inserted ‘‘constructive’’ in subsection (b); and added subsection (d).

Annotations

COMMENT This section provides for beneficiaries and heirs the same causes of action for breach of fiduciary duty that are allowed to trust beneficiaries under the Georgia Trust Act in Code Sec. 53-12-192. JUDICIAL DECISIONS Breach of fiduciary duty shown. - Probate court properly revoked letters testamentary, ordered reimbursement to a decedent’s estate of excessive expenses, and ordered a settling of the estate’s accounts when the decedent’s executor committed 17 breaches of fiduciary duty, including failing to wind up the estate and failing to provide the decedent’s other child with an accounting. Fowler v. Cox, 264 Ga. App. 880, 592 S.E.2d 510 (2003). Appellate court applies an abuse of discretion standard in reviewing a probate court’s order removing an executor; the relevant question in reviewing a removal order regarding an executor is whether the trial court had grounds to conclude that there was good cause for the removal. In re Estate of Arnsdorff, 273 Ga. App. 612, 615 S.E.2d 758 (2005). Probate court order removing an executor from an estate and ordering the attorney to forfeit $79,000 in commissions and fees received and costs incurred as executor and attorney for the estate was upheld on appeal because: (1) the record showed that the attorney filed a purported estate accounting six inches thick, which was prepared by the staff and which the attorney showed little familiarity with; (2) the attorney delayed a distribution to a beneficiary by trying to force the beneficiary to create a trust, which was not required by the decedent’s will; (3) the attorney filed an erroneous tax return that had to be amended as well as took a deduction the attorney knew was improper; and (4) the attorney incurred unnecessary expenses and fees by showing the decedent’s house

when the sale of the house was not required by the will. In re Estate of Arnsdorff, 273 Ga. App. 612, 615 S.E.2d 758 (2005). Because an executor ignored a testator’s intent and the directions contained in the testator’s will, and consciously failed to seek direction from the courts despite the executor’s admitted knowledge that the executor should do so, the trial court properly found that the executor violated the executor’s fiduciary duties and forfeited the executor’s right to compensation in O.C.G.A. § 53-7-54(a)(7). Cronic v. Baker, 284 Ga. 452, 667 S.E.2d 363 (2008). Personal representative’s wrongful conveyance of the estate’s primary asset, a house, to the personal representative was a breach of fiduciary duty. The beneficiary’s evidence of the house’s rental value authorized the award to the beneficiary of compensatory damages for lost rent under O.C.G.A. §§ 53-7-54 and 53-12-193. In re Estate of Zeigler, 295 Ga. App. 156, 671 S.E.2d 218 (2008). Venue. - Assuming that O.C.G.A. § 53-7-54(b) created a cause of action against third parties, as the trust created by the statute was a creature of equity jurisdiction, under Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VI, Sec. II, Para. III, venue for such actions was in the county where a defendant resided. Thus, if a contempt petition was filed pursuant to the statute, the motion to transfer venue filed by two lawyers and their law firm should have been granted as neither lawyer resided in the forum county and their law firm was not located in that county. Rader v. Levenson, 290 Ga. App. 227, 659 S.E.2d 655 (2008).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 12 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 2002–2025 · leading case: Fowler v. Cox, 592 S.E.2d 510 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Fowler v. Cox, 592 S.E.2d 510 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003). · cites it 10× “OCGA § 53-7-54 (a); that [u]pon the petition of any person having an interest in the estate or whenever it appears to the probate court that good cause may exist to revoke the letters of a personal representative or impose other sanctions, the court shall cite the personal…”
In re Est. of Knapp, 756 S.E.2d 716 (Ga. Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 16× “OCGA § 53-7-54 provides that “[i]f a personal representative or temporary administrator commits a breach of fiduciary duty or threatens to commit a breach of fiduciary duty,” the beneficiaries and heirs have a cause action, among other things, “[t]o recover damages”; “[t]o…”
Rader v. Levenson, 659 S.E.2d 655 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 6× “(b) Levenson also argues that venue is proper in Douglas County because, under OCGA§ 53-7-54 (b), a trust was imposed when estate assets were misapplied.”
Sims v. Heath, 577 S.E.2d 789 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002). · cites it 4× “Heath elected to pursue her statutory right to damages for breach of fiduciary duty under OCGA § 53-7-54, and any reference to the Probate Code section was not relevant and would have been confusing.”
In Re Est. of Zeigler, 671 S.E.2d 218 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 4× “8 OCGA § 53-7-54 allows a beneficiary to recover damages if an executrix *159 breaches her fiduciary duty.”
Royal v. Blackwell, 712 S.E.2d 815 (Ga. 2011). · cites it 6× “In granting the motions in favor of Blackwell and Hancock, the trial court found that Royal had breached repeatedly the fiduciary duty he owed the estate and that the breaches supported an award of damages to Blackwell and the estate pursuant to OCGA § 53-7-54, warranted a…”
In re Est. of Arnsdorff, 615 S.E.2d 758 (Ga. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 4× “See OCGA§ 53-7-54 (a). See In re Estate of Garmon, 254 Ga.”
Cronic v. Baker, 667 S.E.2d 363 (Ga. 2008). · cites it 2× “OCGA § 53-7-54 (a) (7) provides, in pertinent part: If a personal representative or temporary administrator commits a breach of fiduciary duty or threatens to commit a breach of fiduciary duty, a beneficiary of a testate estate or heir of an intestate estate shall have a cause…”
In Re: Est. of Joseph Elbert Cheeley, Jr. (Ga. Ct. App. 2025). · cites it 9× “After several years of litigation between these parties in multiple courts, the probate court dismissed William’s petition, finding that although Joseph as an executor owed a fiduciary duty to William as a creditor of the Decedent’s estate, William lacked standing under OCGA §…”
In Re: Est. of George Edward Knapp (Ga. Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 12× “OCGA § 53-7-54 provides that “[i]f a personal representative or temporary administrator commits a breach of fiduciary duty or threatens to commit a breach of fiduciary duty,” the beneficiaries and heirs have a cause action, among other things, “[t]o recover damages;” “[t]o…”
Mary Ann Karetas Lynch v. Charles Logan Lynch (Ga. Ct. App. 2023). · cites it 2× “9 See OCGA § 53-7-54. 10 See OCGA § 53-7-43. 11 See Morris v.”
In Re: Est. of Rosa D. Martin (Ga. Ct. App. 2025). · cites it 2× “He filed the petition, in part, pursuant to OCGA § 53-7-54 (a), which provides that “[i]f a personal representative or temporary administrator commits a breach of fiduciary duty or threatens to commit a breach of fiduciary duty, a beneficiary of a testate estate .”
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.