---
title: O.C.G.A. § 13-4-42. Appropriation of payments.
collection: code
id: 13-4-42
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 13-4-42 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/13-4-42
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/13-4-42.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/13-4-42/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=254
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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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CONTRACTS / MODIFICATION, EXTINGUISHMENT, AND RENEWAL / PAYMENT
---

# O.C.G.A. § 13-4-42. Appropriation of payments.

When a payment is made by a debtor to a creditor holding several demands against him, the debtor shall have the right to direct the claim to which it shall be appropriated. If the debtor fails to do so, the creditor shall have the right to appropriate the payment at his election. If neither party exercises the privilege, the law shall direct the application in such manner as shall be reasonable and equitable, both as to the parties and third persons, provided that, as a general rule, the oldest lien and the oldest item in an account shall be paid first, the presumption of law being that such is the intention of the parties.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2810; Code 1868, § 2818; Code 1873, § 2869; Code 1882, § 2869; Civil Code 1895, § 3722; Civil Code 1910, § 4316; Code 1933, § 20-1006; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 13.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Caveat Venditor: The Material Supplier’s Dilemma on a Construction Project,’’ see 28 Ga. St. B.J. 154 (1992).