HB327: HB327 Official Code of Georgia Annotated; amend various titles

This bill amends many parts of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated dealing with wills, trusts, estates, probate courts, and family law. It updates Georgia's trust code to clarify the role of trust directors (people who share fiduciary duties with a trustee), how trusts can be modified or terminated through settlement agreements, how DNA testing can be used to resolve kinship disputes over an estate, and how electronic records and signatures can be used in trust administration. It also updates family law provisions covering children born through assisted reproduction methods like artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, and clarifies inheritance rights for children born out of wedlock. Probate courts would be allowed to act as custodians of up to $25,000 (up from $15,000) belonging to a minor or incapacitated person without a formal conservator. The bill also revises notice and accounting duties owed by personal representatives of estates to heirs and beneficiaries, and updates rules for institutions managing charitable gifts and endowment funds. Most changes amend existing Code sections rather than create new programs, and the bill repeals conflicting laws.

• Raises, from $15,000 to $25,000, the amount of money a probate court judge may hold and distribute on behalf of a minor or incapacitated person who has no conservator (Code Section 29-6-1).
• Rewrites Georgia's trust code (Title 53) to update rules on appointing and removing trustees, creating binding settlement agreements, and using DNA testing to resolve kinship disputes over an estate.
• Clarifies inheritance rights for children born out of wedlock and children conceived through artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, or similar assisted reproduction methods.
• Adds new rules letting trust records, notices, and signatures be handled electronically, including through secure online portals, and sets rules for when electronic notice counts as valid.
• Updates personal representatives' duties to notify and account to heirs and beneficiaries of an estate, including new rules for creditors' claims and annual return filings.
• Revises how AIDS-related confidential information may be disclosed in connection with a deceased person's estate or guardianship proceedings.

The bill affects Georgia probate and superior courts, trustees and trust directors, personal representatives and executors of estates, heirs and beneficiaries, children born out of wedlock or through assisted reproduction and their parents, banks and trust companies acting as fiduciaries, and nonprofit institutions holding charitable gifts or endowments.

For everyday Georgians handling a family member's estate, these changes affect how quickly probate courts can release small sums to minors, how disputes over paternity or inheritance are resolved, and whether trust paperwork can be handled online instead of by mail, potentially speeding up estate and trust administration statewide.

• Section 19 raises the probate court's authority to distribute funds for a minor or incapacitated person without a conservator from $15,000 to $25,000.
• Sections 10-15 and 21-22 update Title 19 provisions on parental rights, legitimation, and birth registration for children conceived through assisted reproduction.
• Sections 35-46 rewrite Code Sections 53-2-3 through 53-2-27 governing inheritance rights of children born out of wedlock, including new DNA testing procedures for resolving kinship disputes over a decedent's estate.
• Sections 67-72 revise rules on nonjudicial settlement agreements, in terrorem (no-contest) clauses, and a trustee's power to move assets into a new trust.
• Section 96 adds a new Article 19 to the trust code allowing electronic notices, records, and signatures for most trust administration matters, with detailed rules for online portals.
• Section 20 revises how courts award attorney or guardian ad litem fees in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings.
• Section 18 updates rules for disclosing AIDS-related confidential information in probate, guardianship, and estate proceedings.

1. 2025-05-14Effective Date 2025-07-01
2. 2025-05-14Act 310
3. 2025-05-14House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-09House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
6. 2025-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
7. 2025-03-31Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
8. 2025-03-31Senate Tabled (Senate)

• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)Primary sponsor
• Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)
• Stan Gunter (R, HD-008)
• Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Stacey Evans (D, HD-057)
• John Kennedy (R, SD-018)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2025

   176 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 2 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #129

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2025

   49 yea, 0 nay (5 not voting, 2 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #368

• trusts and estates
• probate law
• inheritance rights
• assisted reproduction law
• family law