O.C.G.A. § 9-11-70 (2019)

Statute text

A decree for specific performance shall operate as a deed to convey land or other property without any conveyance being executed by the vendor. The decree, certified by the clerk, shall be recorded in the registry of deeds in the county where the land lies and shall stand in the place of a deed. In all other cases where a judgment directs a party to perform other specific acts and the party fails to comply within the time specified, the court may direct the acts to be done at the cost of the disobedient party by some other person appointed by the court; and acts when so done have like effect as if done by the party. The court may also in proper cases adjudge the party in contempt. If real or personal property is within the state, the court in lieu of directing a conveyance thereof may enter a judgment divesting the title of any party and vesting it in others; and the judgment has the effect of a conveyance executed in due form of law. When any order or judgment is for the delivery of possession, the party in whose favor it is entered is entitled to a writ of execution upon oral or written application to the clerk.

History

(Ga. L. 1966, p. 609, § 70.)

Annotations

U.S. Code. - For provisions of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 70, and annotations pertaining thereto, see 28 U.S.C.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Divorce decree placing title to property in wife is just as valid as deed from husband would have been. Elrod v. Elrod, 231 Ga. 222, 200 S.E.2d 885 (1973).

Decree granting a life estate in property took precedence over quitclaim deed. - Husband's quitclaim deed of property to his second wife did not take priority over a recorded divorce decree stating that the husband had only a life estate in the property with his two children from his first marriage as remaindermen. Price v. Price, 286 Ga. 753, 692 S.E.2d 601 (2010).

Definite description of property required. - Decree for specific performance operates as a deed and should therefore contain a description as definite as that required to support a deed. Plantation Land Co. v. Bradshaw, 232 Ga. 435, 207 S.E.2d 49 (1974); Scheinfeld v. Murray, 267 Ga. 622, 481 S.E.2d 194 (1997).

Because there was no clear identification of the land to be conveyed in a parents' divorce settlement, their son was not entitled to a decree of specific performance under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-70. Haffner v. Davis, 290 Ga. 753, 725 S.E.2d 286 (2012).

Suit for specific performance is prematurely brought when time for performance has not yet arrived. Kirkland v. Morris, 233 Ga. 597, 212 S.E.2d 781 (1975).

Superior court order reconveying land to a vendor under an option to repurchase is not one of specific performance and does not act as a deed to convey when the order makes the reconveyance of the land contingent on a sum of money being paid into the court registry. The court's order does not become a decree of specific performance until the contingency is met. Nelson v. Smothers, 168 Ga. App. 120, 308 S.E.2d 239 (1983).

Cited in McMichael Realty & Ins. Agency, Inc. v. Tysinger, 155 Ga. App. 131, 270 S.E.2d 88 (1980); Bootery, Inc. v. Cumberland Creek Properties, Inc., 271 Ga. 271, 517 S.E.2d 68 (1999).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d. - 71 Am. Jur. 2d, Specific Performance, § 134 et seq.

C.J.S. - 35B C.J.S., Federal Civil Procedure, §§ 1307, 1309. 81A C.J.S., Specific Performance, §§ 1 et seq., 128 et seq.

ALR. - Rights and remedies respecting improvements made in reliance on a decree or order as to title or possession of real property which is subsequently reversed, 30 A.L.R. 936.

Reversal as affecting purchase of property involved in suit, pending appeal without supersedeas, 36 A.L.R. 421.

Inability to comply with judgment or order as defense to charge of contempt, 120 A.L.R. 703.

Judgment in replevin as implying a direction for return of property, 144 A.L.R. 1149.

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ARTICLE 9
GENERAL PROVISIONS

9-11-71 through 9-11-77. Reserved.