Transferring Property To A Trust: It’s Not What You Meant, It’s What You Said
June 21, 2017
Authored by: Luke Lantta
When we put pen to paper, sometimes the words don’t come out right. If that happens, hopefully there’s an opportunity to explain what we meant. Most times that’s true – even in estate planning. For example, we have seen how scrivenor’s errors can be explained. But, for the second time in less than a year, Georgia has limited the role evidence of the settlor’s intent plays under Georgia trust law. In Gibson v. Gibson, the Georgia Supreme Court strictly applied a statute governing the transfer of property to a trust to determine that mistitled brokerage accounts were never transferred to two trusts regardless of the settlor’s intent.
In Gibson, the Georgia Supreme Court had to decide a number of issues arising out of a divorce. One of the multitude of issues on appeal was whether