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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 53. WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES · Chapter 12. TRUSTS · Article 14. TRUSTEE LIABILITY

53-12-301. Actions for breach of trust.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    If a trustee commits a breach of trust, or threatens to commit a breach of trust, a beneficiary shall have a cause of action to seek:#

    1. (1)

      To recover damages;#

    2. (2)

      To compel the trustee to perform the trustee’s duties;#

    3. (3)

      To require an accounting;#

    4. (4)

      To enjoin the trustee from committing a breach of trust;#

    5. (5)

      To compel the trustee to redress a breach of trust by payment of money or otherwise;#

    6. (6)

      To appoint a temporary trustee to take possession of the trust property and administer the trust or to suspend a trustee with or without the appointment of a temporary trustee;#

    7. (7)

      To remove the trustee; and#

    8. (8)

      To reduce or deny compensation of the trustee.#

  2. (b)

    When trust assets are misapplied and can be traced in the hands of persons affected with notice of the misapplication, the trust shall attach to such assets. A creditor of a trust may follow assets in the hands of beneficiaries even if they were received without notice.#

  3. (c)

    The remedy set forth in subsection (c) of Code Section 53-12-363 shall be the exclusive remedy for an abuse of discretion as provided in Code Sections 53-12-361 and 53-12-362.#

  4. (d)

    If the settlor of a trust provides for both charitable and noncharitable purposes, the settlor or a donor may maintain a civil action to enforce the charitable purposes of the trust.#

  5. (e)

    The provision of remedies for breach of trust shall not prevent resort to any other appropriate remedy provided by statute or common law.#

Reading note: a word broken across two lines in the printed volume was joined by rule and could not be checked against the volume's own vocabulary. The official page linked below settles any doubt.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 53-12-301, enacted by Ga. L. 2010, p. 579, § 1/SB 131; Ga. L. 2025, p. HB 327, § 87/HB 327, effective July 1, 2025.

Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, added subsection (d) and redesignated the provisions of former subsection (d) as subsection (e).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t52-t53-(v40)-pdf.pdf, Volume V40, 2021 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 122 to 123; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 d9d2be0e71ce.

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O.C.G.A. § 53-12-301. Actions for breach of trust. | Georgia Commons