---
title: O.C.G.A. § 13-1-13. Recovery of voluntary payments.
collection: code
id: 13-1-13
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 13-1-13 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/13-1-13
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/13-1-13.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/13-1-13/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t13-(v11)-2010-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=e4dbdcfd_0#page=46
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CONTRACTS / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 13-1-13. Recovery of voluntary payments.

Payments of claims made through ignorance of the law or where all the facts are known and there is no misplaced confidence and no artifice, deception, or fraudulent practice used by the other party are deemed voluntary and cannot be recovered unless made under an urgent and immediate necessity therefor or to release person or property from detention or to prevent an immediate seizure of person or property. Filing a protest at the time of payment does not change the rule prescribed in this Code section.

## History

Civil Code 1895, § 3723; Civil Code 1910, § 4317; Code 1933, § 20-1007.

## Law Reviews

For annual survey of local government law, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 351 (2004).

For note on the voluntary-payment doctrine in Georgia, see 16 Ga. L. Rev. 893 (1982).

For comment, ‘‘Refocusing Liquidated Damages Law for Real Estate Contracts: Returning to the Historical Roots of the Penalty Doctrine,’’ see 39 Emory L.J. 267 (1990).

## History of Code Section.

This Code section is derived from the decisions in Camps v. Phillips, 49 Ga. 455 (1873); Arnold & DuBose v. Georgia R.R. & Banking Co., 50 Ga. 304 (1873); First Nat’l Bank v. Mayor of Americus, 68 Ga. 119 (1881).