---
title: O.C.G.A. § 53-12-243. Duty to provide reports and accounts.
collection: code
id: 53-12-243
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 53-12-243 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-243
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-243.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/53-12-243/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t52-t53-(v40)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=5e4f6f40_0#page=109
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
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 / TRUSTEES’ DUTIES AND POWERS / DUTIES OF TRUSTEE
---

# O.C.G.A. § 53-12-243. Duty to provide reports and accounts.

(a) On reasonable request by any qualified beneficiary, the trustee shall provide the qualified beneficiary with a report of information, to the extent relevant to that beneficiary’s interest, about the assets, liabilities, receipts, and disbursements of the trust, the acts of the trustee, and the particulars relating to the administration of such trust, including the trust provisions that describe or affect such beneficiary’s interest.

(b)(1) A trustee shall account at least annually, at the termination of the trust, and upon a change of trustees to each beneficiary of an irrevocable trust to whom income or principal is required or authorized in the trustee’s discretion to be distributed during the period covered by the report, including upon the termination of the trust on the last day of such period, and to any person who may revoke the trust. Upon a change of trustees, the trustee shall also account to the successor trustee.

(2) An accounting furnished to a beneficiary pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall contain a statement of receipts and disbursements of principal and income that have occurred during the last complete fiscal year of the trust or since the last accounting to that beneficiary and a statement of the assets and liabilities of the trust as of the end of the accounting period.

(c) A trustee shall not be required to report information or account to:

(1) A beneficiary who has waived in writing the right to a report or accounting and has not withdrawn that waiver; or

(2) The unascertainable charitable beneficiaries of a trust that is not a charitable trust.

(d) Subsections (a) and (b) of this Code section and the common law duty of the trustee to keep the beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration shall not apply to the extent that the provisions of the trust provide otherwise or the settlor of the trust directs otherwise in a writing delivered to the trustee.

(e) Nothing in this Code section shall affect the power of a court to require or excuse an accounting.

## History

Code 1981, § 53-12-243, enacted by Ga. L. 2010, p. 579, § 1/SB 131; Ga. L. 2018, p. 262, § 19/HB 121; Ga. L. 2020, p. 377, § 1-83/HB 865; Ga. L. 2025, p. 806, § 81/HB 327, effective July 1, 2025.

## Law Reviews

For article with annual survey on wills, trusts, guardianships, and fiduciary administration, see 73 Mercer L. Rev. 281 (2021).

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, in paragraph (b)(1), inserted “or principal” following “income” and substituted “during the period covered by the report, including upon the termination of the trust on the last day of such period” for “currently”, deleted the former second sentence, which read: “At the termination of the trust, the trustee shall also account to each remainder beneficiary.”; added the paragraph (c)(1) designation; added “; or” at the end of paragraph (c)(1); and added paragraph (c)(2).