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Final Copy 291 Ga. 231 S12A0537. DURHAM v. DURHAM et al. S12A0607. CALLAWAY v. WILLARD et al. NAHMIAS, Justice. The question presented by these two cases is whether appeals that involve the proper interpretation of a trust provision come within this Court's general appellate jurisdiction over "equity cases," Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III (2), because the resolution of that legal issue will affect the administration of the trust. Consistent with our precedent on this question, we conclude that such cases do not come within our equity jurisdiction. 1. These cases arise from a declaratory judgment action filed by trustee

William E. Callaway, Jr., seeking to determine the effect of an in terrorem clause in an express trust. The donor, Marjorie H. Durham, executed the inter vivos trust in 2000, naming herself as a beneficiary and her four children as residual beneficiaries. Mrs. Durham died in 2009. In 2010, the trustee filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against the four trust beneficiaries, seeking an order declaring that three of the beneficiaries, Wallace Durham, Hugh Durham, and Lucinda Durham Willard, had forfeited their respective interests

in the trust estate under the in terrorem clause and that the entirety of the estate should therefore be distributed to the fourth beneficiary, Lawrence Durham.1 Lawrence filed a counterclaim and a cross-claim and later moved for summary judgment, alleging that because he was the only child who did not violate the in terrorem clause, he is the sole beneficiary of the residue of the trust estate. Lucinda also filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that she had not violated the in terrorem clause and remains a valid beneficiary of the trust. On July 6, 2011, the trial court granted Lucinda's motion for summary judgment, and on July 12, the court denied Lawrence's motion for summary judgment. Case No. S12A0537 is Lawrence's appeal of the denial of his motion for summary judgment. After the trial court certified its ruling for immediate review, Lawrence filed an application for interlocutory appeal in the Court of Appeals, which transferred the application to this Court. We granted the application to address whether this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal as an "equity case" and, if so, whether the trial court erred in denying

The in terrorem clause provides that if any of the trust beneficiaries are "unsuccessful in [a] legal or equitable challenge" pertaining to the administration, management, or distribution of the trust, "then said child or children shall, as of said date that the challenge is determined adversely to said child or children, forfeit any right, title or interest in said Trust Estate."

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Lawrence's motion for summary judgment. Case No. S12A0607 is trustee Callaway's appeal of the trial court's grant of Lucinda's motion for summary judgment. The trustee filed a direct appeal in the Court of Appeals, which again transferred the case to this Court. We conclude, however, that these cases do not come within the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction over "equity cases." 2. For more than two decades, this Court has consistently held that our

appellate jurisdiction over "equity cases" is limited to cases in which a specific substantive issue raised on appeal involves equitable relief rather than questions of law. Whether an action is an equity case for the purpose of determining jurisdiction on appeal depends upon the issue raised on appeal, not upon how the case is styled nor upon the kinds of relief which may be sought by the complaint. That is, "equity cases" are those in which a substantive issue on appeal involves the legality or propriety of equitable relief sought in the superior court

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