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Walshv.Bowen

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A22A1590
DecidedMarch 10, 2023
Reporter367 Ga. App. 208; 885 S.E.2d 241; 2023 Ga. App. LEXIS 130; 2023 WL 2443165
JudgesMCFADDEN, Presiding Judge. Gobeil and Land, JJ., concur.
Tags
CivilGiftsEstate LitigationInter Vivos GiftConstructive Delivery529 AccountsSummary Judgment
Case Summary

Rick Walsh wanted to fund 529 accounts owned by his wife, Alice, for her granddaughters. While hospitalized, he opened the accounts, verbally directed his broker to transfer funds, signed a required authorization, and gave it to Alice to send. She did not send it before he died; the broker later reversed the transfer. The estate executor obtained partial summary judgment that no gift had been delivered during Rick’s lifetime. The only appellate issue was delivery; the executor conceded a factual dispute over donative intent, and acceptance was presumed. A valid inter vivos gift may be constructively delivered by an act showing the donor renounced dominion and transferred it to the donee. The Court of Appeals held a jury could find that Rick’s signed authorization, given to Alice as account owner with power to redirect the funds, let her complete the gift without further action by him, despite the transfer’s not being processed before his death. The court reversed partial summary judgment because constructive delivery presented a fact question. It did not reach Alice’s alternative actual-delivery arguments.

Opinion

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