Section 29-5-31. Retention of property; exchange or conversion of stocks or securities

   (a) A conservator may retain the property received by the conservator on the creation of the conservatorship, including, in the case of a corporate fiduciary, stock or other securities of its own issue, even though the property may not otherwise be a legal investment and shall not be liable for the retention, except for gross neglect. In the case of corporate securities, the conservator may likewise retain any securities into which the securities originally received may be converted or which may be derived therefrom as a result of merger, consolidation, stock dividends, splits, liquidations, and similar procedures; and the conservator may exercise by purchase or otherwise any rights, warrants, or conversion features attaching to any such securities.

(b) In the case of a corporate fiduciary, the authority granted in subsection (a) of this Code section shall apply to the exchange or conversion of stock or securities of the corporate fiduciary's own issue, whether or not any new stock or securities received in exchange therefor are substantially equivalent to those originally held; and such authority shall also apply to the continued retention of all new stock and securities resulting from merger, consolidation, stock dividends, splits, liquidations, and similar procedures and received by virtue of such conversion or exchange of stock or securities of the corporate fiduciary's own issue, whether or not the new stock or securities are substantially equivalent to those originally received by the fiduciary. The foregoing authority shall have reference, inter alia, to the exchange of such stock or securities for stock or securities of any holding company which owns stock or other interests in one or more other corporations including the corporate fiduciary, whether the holding company is newly formed or already existing, and whether or not any of the corporations own assets identical or similar to the assets of or carry on business identical or similar to the corporation whose stock or securities were previously received by the fiduciary and the continued retention of stock or securities, or both, of the holding company; and such authority shall apply regardless of whether any of the corporations have officers, directors, employees, agents, or trustees in common with the corporation whose stock or securities were previously received by the fiduciary.

Code 1981, § 29-5-31, enacted by Ga. L. 2004, p. 161, § 1.