Definitions

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Banking and Finance
  4. Financial Institutions
  5. Multiple-Party Accounts
  6. Definitions

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As used in this article, the term:

  1. "Account" means a contract of deposit of funds between a depositor and a financial institution and includes a checking account, savings account, certificate of deposit, share account, and other like arrangements.
  2. "Beneficiary" means a person named in a trust account as one for whom a party to the account is named as trustee.
  3. "Financial institution" means a savings and loan association as defined in paragraph (31) of Code Section 7-1-4 or any financial institution as defined in paragraph (21) of Code Section 7-1-4.
  4. "Joint account" means an account payable on request to one or more of two or more parties, whether or not mention is made of any right of survivorship.
  5. "Multiple-party account" means any of the following types of account:
    1. A joint account;
    2. A P.O.D. account; or
    3. A trust account.

      It does not include accounts established for deposit of funds of a partnership, joint venture, or other association for business purposes; accounts controlled by one or more persons as the duly authorized agent or trustee for a corporation, unincorporated association, or charitable or civic organization; or a regular fiduciary or trust account where the relationship is established other than by deposit agreement.

  6. "Net contribution" of a party to a multiple-party account as of any given time means the sum of all deposits thereto made by or for him, less all withdrawals made by or for him which have not been paid to or applied to the use of any other party, plus a pro rata share of any interest or dividends included in the current balance. The term includes, in addition, any proceeds of deposit life insurance added to the account by reason of the death of the party whose net contribution is in question.
  7. "Party" means a person who, by the terms of the account, has a present right, subject to request, to payment from a multiple-party account. A P.O.D. payee or beneficiary of a trust account is a party only after the account becomes payable to him by reason of his surviving the original payee or trustee. Unless the context otherwise requires, it includes a guardian, conservator, personal representative, or assignee, including an attaching creditor, of a party. It also includes a person identified as a trustee of an account for another, whether or not a beneficiary is named; but it does not include any named beneficiary unless he has a present right of withdrawal.
  8. "Payment" of sums on deposit includes withdrawal, payment on check or other directive of a party, and any pledge of sums on deposit by a party and any setoff or reduction or other disposition of all or part of an account pursuant to a pledge.
  9. "Proof of death" includes a death certificate or official record which is prima-facie proof of death.
  10. "P.O.D. account" means an account payable on request to one person during his or her lifetime or to an incorporated entity and on such person's death to one or more P.O.D. payees or to one or more persons during their lifetimes or to an incorporated entity and on the death of all of them or the dissolution of the incorporated entity to one or more P.O.D. payees.
  11. "P.O.D. payee" means a person or an incorporated entity designated on a P.O.D. account as one to whom the account is payable on request after the death of one or more persons.
  12. "Request" means a proper request for withdrawal or a check or order for payment which complies with all conditions of the account, including special requirements concerning necessary signatures and regulations of the financial institution; but, if the financial institution conditions withdrawal or payment on advance notice, for purposes of this article the request for withdrawal or payment is treated as immediately effective and a notice of intent to withdraw is treated as a request for withdrawal.
  13. "Sums on deposit" means the balance payable on a multiple-party account, including interest, dividends, and, in addition, any deposit life insurance proceeds added to the account by reason of the death of a party.
  14. "Trust account" means an account in the name of one or more parties as trustee for one or more beneficiaries where the relationship is established by the form of the account and the deposit agreement with the financial institution and there is no subject of the trust other than the sums on deposit in the account; it is not essential that payment to the beneficiary be mentioned in the deposit agreement. A trust account does not include a regular trust account under a testamentary trust or a trust agreement which has significance apart from the account or a fiduciary account arising from a fiduciary relation such as attorney-client.
  15. "Withdrawal" includes payment to a third person pursuant to check or other directive of a party.

(Code 1933, § 41A-3801, enacted by Ga. L. 1976, p. 1388, § 8; Ga. L. 2011, p. 518, § 5/HB 239.)

Law reviews.

- For annual survey of wills, trusts, and administration, see 43 Mercer L. Rev. 457 (1991). For annual survey article on wills, trusts and administration of estates, see 50 Mercer L. Rev. 381 (1998). For survey article discussing developments in law of business associations for the period from June 1, 1998 through May 31, 1999, see 51 Mercer L. Rev. 127 (1999). For article, "Business Associations," see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 109 (2001). For article, "Wills, Trusts & Administration of Estates," see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 499 (2001).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Multiple-party account.

- Once the payee produced the sister's and husband's death certificates and had them removed as joint tenants on the CD accounts, the accounts ceased to be multiple-party accounts subject to the strictures of O.C.G.A. § 7-1-814. Lowe v. Barnett Bank, 209 Ga. App. 112, 433 S.E.2d 294 (1993).

Party's net contribution included amounts deposited for party.

- In a dispute over a joint account created by a father, mother, and daughter, although only the father made contributions to the account, the daughter's contributions could include deposits made by the father for the daughter; because some evidence indicated an intent that the money would belong to the daughter, the trial court erred by concluding that all of the funds belonged to the mother after the father's death. Howard v. Leonard, 330 Ga. App. 331, 765 S.E.2d 466 (2014).

Corporation not proper beneficiary on "payable on death" account.

- Corporation was not an eligible "payable on death" (POD) beneficiary on certificates of deposit or a trust account because under O.C.G.A. § 7-1-810(11), a POD payee on a death account had to have been a person, and under § 7-1-810(2), a beneficiary on a trust account had to have been a person; under O.C.G.A. § 7-1-4(26), a "person" was defined as an individual, trust, general or limited partnership, unincorporated association (except a joint-stock association), or any other form of unincorporated enterprise. Thus, the corporation did not meet the statutory definition of person. Tuvim v. United Jewish Cmtys., Inc., 285 Ga. 632, 680 S.E.2d 827 (2009).

Cited in Lastinger v. Johnson, 148 Ga. App. 453, 251 S.E.2d 369 (1978); White v. Royal, 150 Ga. App. 57, 256 S.E.2d 662 (1979); Johnson v. Lastinger, 152 Ga. App. 328, 262 S.E.2d 601 (1979); Bank S. v. Harrell, 181 Ga. App. 64, 351 S.E.2d 263 (1986); Lamb v. Thalimer Enters., Inc., 193 Ga. App. 70, 386 S.E.2d 912 (1989); Parker v. Peavey, 198 Ga. App. 694, 403 S.E.2d 213 (1991); South v. Bank of Am., 250 Ga. App. 747, 551 S.E.2d 55 (2001).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 10 Am. Jur. 2d, Banks and Financial Institutions, §§ 662 et seq., 682 et seq. 22A Am. Jur. 2d, Death, §§ 366, 426, 427. 60 Am. Jur. 2d, Payment, § 1.

C.J.S.

- 9 C.J.S., Banks and Banking, §§ 292 et seq., 298 et seq. 32A C.J.S., Evidence, § 1028. 70 C.J.S., Payment, § 1 et seq.


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