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Getting started · 6 min lekti
Accepting the office
A person named as trustee becomes trustee by accepting. O.C.G.A. § 53-12-202 provides that acceptance is necessary, that it may be effected by acts as well as words, and that a designated trustee accepts by substantially complying with a method the trust instrument provides or — where the instrument provides none, or the method is not expressly made exclusive — by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance. After accepting, the trustee may not decline.
Before deciding, a designee may act to preserve the trust property if the person rejects or declines as soon as practicable (O.C.G.A. § 53-12-202(c)). A successor takes reasonable steps to compel the predecessor to deliver the trust property and to redress a breach the successor knows or should know of (§ 53-12-304); a successor to a trustee who was also the settlor has no duty to sue the settlor-trustee as to the revocable portion.
The duties that apply from the first day
O.C.G.A. § 53-12-240 provides that, on accepting, a trustee administers the trust in good faith, in accordance with its provisions and purposes, and that the statutory duties add to the common law's. The duties that follow are the familiar ones in Georgia's words: prudent administration with the judgment and care of a prudent person familiar with such matters (§ 53-12-241), administration solely in the interests of the beneficiaries (§ 53-12-246), impartiality (§ 53-12-247), the prudent investor rule (§ 53-12-340), and a review of the assets within a reasonable time after accepting (§ 53-12-342).
One notice, with 60 days
Georgia's trust code provides one notice at the outset. Within 60 days after the date of creation of an irrevocable trust, or the date on which a revocable trust becomes irrevocable — the settlor's death, for most living trusts — the trustee notifies the qualified beneficiaries of the existence of the trust and the name and mailing address of the trustee (O.C.G.A. § 53-12-242(a)). The clock counts from the event, not from the trustee's acceptance and not from the day the trustee learned of the death; Georgia has no acceptance notice. Irrevocable trusts in existence on July 1, 2010 are deemed to have waived the notice unless the instrument says otherwise.
A qualified beneficiary is, on the date of determination, a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal, or a person who would be one if the current interests ended or the trust terminated on that date (O.C.G.A. § 53-12-2(10)). Who that is for a particular trust on a particular day is a question of the instrument's words and the family's facts — the kind a licensed Georgia attorney of your choosing answers.
The estate beside the trust
A revocable trust rarely holds everything. Property left outside it passes by will or intestacy through the probate court (O.C.G.A. § 53-5-5, § 53-2-1), by survivorship where the deed said so expressly (§ 44-6-190), or by beneficiary designation (§ 33-25-11). Where an estate is opened, the personal representative publishes the notice to creditors within 60 days of qualification (§ 53-7-41) and files the inventory within six months (§ 53-7-30).
The estate's needs can reach the trust: after the settlor's death, the property of a trust that was revocable at the death is subject to the claims of the creditors of the settlor's estate to the extent the probate estate is inadequate (O.C.G.A. § 53-12-82(a)(2)(C)), and the family's year's support is preferred before most debts (§ 53-3-1). Georgia levies no estate tax (§ 48-12-1).
Lwa yo, mo pou mo
Acceptance
O.C.G.A. § 53-12-202 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Duties generally
O.C.G.A. § 53-12-240 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Duty to inform as to existence of trust
O.C.G.A. § 53-12-242 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Rules for trusts; consideration of assets of an inter vivos marital trust following death
O.C.G.A. § 53-12-82 ↗Eksplikasyon klè e senp; tèks egzak lwa a poko ateste nan bibliyotèk nou an. Gade lwa ofisyèl la nan lyen ki anwo a.
Kesyon moun poze souvan
How does a Georgia successor trustee accept the office?
By substantially complying with the method the trust instrument provides or, where it provides none or the method is not exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance (O.C.G.A. § 53-12-202). Acceptance may be by conduct, and after accepting the trustee may not decline.
Is there a notice after a Georgia trustee accepts?
No. Georgia's one notice counts from the trust becoming irrevocable — within 60 days after that date, to the qualified beneficiaries, of the trust's existence and the trustee's name and mailing address (O.C.G.A. § 53-12-242(a)).
Does a Georgia successor trustee need a court order to act?
Generally no: the trustee administers under the instrument and the statute, and a court is involved only when a party invokes it — the superior court, or the probate court in an Article 6 county (O.C.G.A. § 53-12-6; § 15-9-127). A certification of trust (§ 53-12-280) is what a bank or a title company asks for.
Lekti ki gen rapò
Sant Aprantisaj la se enfòmasyon jeneral sou lwa Jòji — se pa konsèy legal, e li pa ranplase konsèy yon avoka Jòji ki gen lisans sou reyalite pa ou. TrusteeClear se yon lojisyèl, pa yon kabinè avoka.