GA Code § 13-3-20 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 13 - Contracts|Chapter 3 - Elements and Formation Generally|Article 2 - Capacity of Parties|§ 13-3-20. Minors - Contracts for Property or Valuable Consideration; Contracts for Necessaries

  Generally the contract of a minor is voidable. If in a contractual transaction a minor receives property or other valuable consideration and, after arrival at the age of 18, retains possession of such property or continues to enjoy the benefit of such other valuable consideration, the minor shall have thereby ratified or affirmed the contract and it shall be binding on him or her. Such contractual transaction shall also be binding upon any minor who becomes emancipated by operation of law or pursuant to Article 10 of Chapter 11 of Title 15.   The contract of a minor for necessaries shall be binding on the minor as if the minor were 18 years of age except that the party furnishing them to the minor shall prove that the parent or guardian of such minor had failed or refused to supply sufficient necessaries for the minor, that the minor was emancipated by operation of law, or the minor was emancipated pursuant to Article 10 of Chapter 11 of Title 15.    (Ga. L. 1858, p. 58, § 1; Code 1863, §§ 2691, 2693; Code 1868, §§ 2687, 2689; Code 1873, §§ 2729, 2731; Code 1882, §§ 2729, 2731; Civil Code 1895, §§ 3647, 3648; Civil Code 1910, §§ 4232, 4233; Code 1933, § 20-201; Ga. L. 1966, p. 291, § 1; Ga. L. 1969, p. 640, § 1; Ga. L. 1972, p. 193, § 2; Ga. L. 2006, p. 141, § 3/HB 847; Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 4-3/HB 242.)    The 2013 amendment,  effective January 1, 2014, substituted "Article 10" for "Article 6" in the last sentence of subsection (a) and near the end of subsection (b). See Editor's notes for applicability.   Code Commission notes.   - Ga. L. 1972, p. 193, § 10, effective July 1, 1972, provided that the purpose of the Act was to reduce the age of legal majority from 21 years of age to 18 years of age so that all persons, upon reaching the age of 18, would have the rights, privileges, powers, duties, responsibilities, and liabilities previously applicable to persons 21 years of age or over. The section further provided that the Act was not to be construed to have the effect of changing the age from 21 to 18 with respect to any legal instrument or court decree in existence prior to the effective date of the Act when the instrument referred only to "the age of majority" or words of similar import, except that any guardianship of the person or property of a minor under the provisions of Title 49 of the 1933 Code, whether such guardianship was created by court order or decree entered before or after the effective date of the Act or under the will of a testator which was executed after the effective date of the act, would terminate when the ward for whom such guardianship was created reached 18 years of age.   History of section.    - This Code section is derived from the decision in Strain v. Wright, 7 Ga. 568 (1849), and Hood v. Buren, 33 Ga. App. 203, 125 S.E. 787 (1924).   Cross references.   - Rights of minors generally, § 1-2-8.    Minority as a contractual defense, § 13-5-3.    Voidable nature of conveyance of property or interest to or by minor, § 44-5-41.   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 5-1/HB 242, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2014, and shall apply to all offenses which occur and juvenile proceedings commenced on and after such date. Any offense occurring before January 1, 2014, shall be governed by the statute in effect at the time of such offense and shall be considered a prior adjudication for the purpose of imposing a disposition that provides for a different penalty for subsequent adjudications, of whatever class, pursuant to this Act. The enactment of this Act shall not affect any prosecutions for acts occurring before January 1, 2014, and shall not act as an abatement of any such prosecutions."   Law reviews.   - For article discussing, "Voidability of Minors' Contracts: A Feudal Doctrine in a Modern Economy," see 1 Ga. L. Rev. 205 (1967). For article recommending more consistency in age requirements of laws pertaining to the welfare of minors, see 6 Ga. St. B.J. 189 (1969). For article discussing the anachronistic nature of the Georgia contracts Code as dramatized by comparing the doctrine of consideration as it is formulated in the Restatements of Contracts and in Code 1933, Title 20 (now this title), and the interpretative approach Georgia courts have taken in dealing with such Code, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 499 (1979). (But see amendments by Ga. L. 1981, p. 876.) For article on 2006 amendment of this Code section, see 23 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 79 (2006).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   ANALYSIS    General Consideration   Disaffirmance or Repudiation   Ratification   Contracts for Necessaries    RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 23 Am. Jur. 2d, Deeds, § 133.   C.J.S.   - 17 C.J.S., Contracts, § 98.   ALR.    - Ignorance of legal right to avoid contract or conveyance made during infancy as affecting ratification thereof upon attaining majority, 5 A.L.R. 137.    Parent's approval or sanction of infant's contract as affecting latter's liability on, or right to disaffirm, it, 9 A.L.R. 1030.    Right of infant to enjoin other party to contract from asserting its validity, 15 A.L.R. 1215.    Return of property purchased by infant as condition of recovery of purchase money paid, 16 A.L.R. 1475; 36 A.L.R. 782; 124 A.L.R. 1368.    Stipulations in pass as binding on infant, 41 A.L.R. 1099.    Infancy of party to contract as affecting his right to specific enforcement, 43 A.L.R. 120.    Law of infant's contract as applied to contract of or by partnership, 58 A.L.R. 1366.    Payment by infant after majority on contract made during infancy as ratification, 59 A.L.R. 281.    Infant's rights and liabilities on subscription to or purchase of corporate stock, 64 A.L.R. 972.    Right to recover for money loaned to infant to purchase necessaries, 65 A.L.R. 1337.    Liability of infant in tort for inducing contract by misrepresenting his age, 67 A.L.R. 1264.    Liability of infant or his estate for rent, 68 A.L.R. 1185.    Liability of infant for necessaries where he lives with his parents, 70 A.L.R. 572.    Liability of infant for medical, dental, or hospital services to him, 71 A.L.R. 226.    Law of infant's contracts as applied to infant's dealings with stockbroker, 83 A.L.R. 914.    Return of property purchased by infant as condition of recovery of purchase price, 124 A.L.R. 1368.    Enlistment or mustering of minors into military service, 137 A.L.R. 1467; 147 A.L.R. 1311; 148 A.L.R. 1388; 149 A.L.R. 1457; 150 A.L.R. 1420; 151 A.L.R. 1455; 151 A.L.R. 1456; 152 A.L.R. 1452; 153 A.L.R. 1420; 153 A.L.R. 1422; 154 A.L.R. 1448; 155 A.L.R. 1451; 155 A.L.R. 1452; 156 A.L.R. 1450; 157 A.L.R. 1449; 157 A.L.R. 1450; 158 A.L.R. 1450.   Failure to disaffirm as ratification of infant's executory contract, 5 A.L.R.2d 7.   Right of infant to disaffirm his sale of personalty and recover it from third person purchasing without notice of infancy, 16 A.L.R.2d 1420.   Right of infant who repudiates contract for services to recover thereon or in quantum meruit, 35 A.L.R.2d 1302.   Applicability of statute of frauds to promise to pay for medical, dental, or hospital services furnished to another, 64 A.L.R.2d 1071.   Agreement to arbitrate future controversies as binding on infant, 78 A.L.R.2d 1292.   Infant's liability for use or depreciation of subject matter, in action to recover purchase price upon his disaffirmance of contract to purchase goods, 12 A.L.R.3d 1174.   Infant's liability for services rendered by attorney at law under contract with him, 13 A.L.R.3d 1251.   Enforceability of covenant not to compete in infant's employment contract, 17 A.L.R.3d 863.   Infant's misrepresentation as to his age as estopping him from disaffirming his voidable transaction, 29 A.L.R.3d 1270.   Infant's liability for services of an employment agency, 41 A.L.R.3d 1075.   Automobile or motorcycle as necessary for infant, 56 A.L.R.3d 1335.   Infant's liability for medical, dental, or hospital services, 53 A.L.R.4th 1249.