---
title: O.C.G.A. § 53-12-21. Formal and precatory words.
collection: code
id: 53-12-21
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 53-12-21 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-21
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-21.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-21/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t52-t53-(v40)-2021-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=d23ba203_0#page=787
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.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-20.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-22.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES / TRUSTS / CREATION AND VALIDITY OF EXPRESS TRUSTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 53-12-21. Formal and precatory words.

(a) No formal words shall be necessary to create an express trust.

(b) Words otherwise precatory in nature will create a trust only if they are sufficiently imperative to show a settlor’s intention to impose enforceable duties on a trustee and if all other elements of an express trust are present.

## History

Code 1981, § 53-12-21, enacted by Ga. L. 2010, p. 579, § 1/SB 131.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘The Rule Against Perpetuities as Applied to Georgia Wills and Trusts,’’ see 16 Ga. L. Rev. 235 (1982).