HB1348: HB1348 Civil practice; compensation for receivers; provide

When a court appoints a receiver to take charge of a person's or company's assets, for example in a bankruptcy-like dispute, current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 9-8-13) already sets a tiered fee schedule based on how much money passes through the receiver's hands. This bill rewrites that Code section to keep the tiered percentages (8 percent on the first $1,000, stepping down to 0.5 percent on amounts over $20,000) but adds a new overall limit. Under the bill, no matter how the fee is calculated, total compensation awarded to attorneys and receivers under this chapter cannot exceed 5 percent of the total funds the receiver actually received, unless a judge specifically orders otherwise. The bill also cleans up wording in the section describing how receivers are paid when they continue running an insolvent business, tying that pay to the lesser of normal business compensation or the standard commission schedule. If enacted, the changes would apply to receiverships handled under this chapter going forward.

• Rewrites Georgia's receiver compensation law (O.C.G.A. § 9-8-13) but keeps the existing tiered percentage schedule for paying receivers based on the size of the fund they handle.
• Adds a new hard cap: total compensation to attorneys and receivers under this chapter cannot exceed 5 percent of the total sums the receiver received, unless a court orders otherwise.
• Clarifies that when a receiver continues running an insolvent business, the judge must pay the lesser of normal business compensation or the standard commission percentages, rather than an open-ended amount.
• Makes wording changes to the section governing fees for attorneys who file the original petition, tying their pay to the same capped schedule.

Court-appointed receivers, the attorneys who file petitions to bring assets into receivership, and judges who oversee these cases. It also affects creditors and the businesses or individuals whose assets end up in receivership, since fees are paid out of the fund before creditors are repaid.

By capping total fees at 5 percent of the money a receiver actually collects, the bill limits how much of a distressed fund can go to compensation before it reaches creditors, unless a judge decides more is warranted for a particular case.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 9-8-13(b)(1), keeping the existing sliding-scale commission rates receivers may earn based on the size of the fund handled.
• Section 1 revises subsection (b)(2) to cap compensation for receivers who continue operating an insolvent business at the lesser of standard business pay or the commission schedule.
• Section 1 revises subsection (c) to confirm attorney and receiver fees cannot exceed the amounts set in subsection (b).
• Section 1 adds new subsection (d), capping total compensation under the chapter at 5 percent of total sums received by the receiver, unless the court orders otherwise.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-24House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2026-02-19House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-18House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-17House Hopper (House)

• Tyler Smith (R, HD-018)Primary sponsor
• Soo Hong (R, HD-103)
• Stan Gunter (R, HD-008)
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
• Buddy DeLoach (R, HD-167)

• civil practice
• receivers
• court fees
• insolvency law
• Georgia courts