Lent money by bank transfer, no written receipt: what to do under Georgian law

What to do

1. A loan may be concluded orally; written form is not mandatory (Civil Code of Georgia (CC), Art. 624), but an oral loan cannot be proved by witness testimony alone (CC, Art. 624). The lender must prove the loan (Civil Procedure Code of Georgia (CPC), Art. 102). The dispute is whether it was a loan (a loan is the transfer of money with an obligation to return the same amount (CC, Art. 623)) or a gift (a gift is a gratuitous transfer that requires the donee's consent (CC, Art. 524); a gift of movable property is concluded at the moment of transfer, which is the basis of the argument “it was a gift” (CC, Art. 525)).
2. Deadlines: the limitation period for contractual claims (loan) is three years (CC, Art. 129); an acknowledgement of the debt, including “I will return it” in correspondence or a partial repayment, interrupts the limitation period (CC, Art. 137); after the interruption, the limitation period starts again (CC, Art. 141). Where no repayment term is set, the loan must be repaid within three months after the demand to terminate it (CC, Art. 626).
3. Evidence: bank statements showing the payment purpose, correspondence and voice messages about the debt, partial repayments. Personal letters and correspondence are written evidence (CPC, Art. 134); the court assesses the evidence as a whole, without any pre-set legal force (CPC, Art. 105); a party's admission may be sufficient evidence (CPC, Art. 131). Preserve the correspondence: evidence can be secured, including before a claim is filed (CPC, Art. 109); if documents such as bank statements are not accessible to you, the court will request them on motion (CPC, Art. 134).
4. A written demand stating the amount and the deadline: a reply such as “I will return it later” is a new acknowledgement of the debt.
5. An alternative claim in the same lawsuit: money transferred without an existing obligation may be reclaimed (CC, Art. 976); a person who has been unjustly enriched must return what they received (CC, Art. 991). Risk: return is excluded if the recipient could reasonably have considered that the money was meant to be theirs permanently (CC, Art. 976).
6. Jurisdiction: claims up to 5,000 lari go to the magistrate court (CPC, Art. 14); higher claims go to the district (city) court.
7. Where to apply: before a claim, a written demand to the debtor; then the court.
8. Evidence: transfer statements, screenshots of correspondence with dates and the counterparty's number, voice messages, the reply to the demand, witnesses (as a supplement only).
9. Pitfalls: relying only on witnesses, as the law does not accept their testimony alone as sufficient; deleting or losing correspondence (keep it complete, with dates and the counterparty's number); a “gift” or “help” in the transfer purpose, which is a strong argument for the debtor; claiming only a loan without the alternative claim for unjust enrichment.

Be sure to check

• an oral loan is valid, but witnesses alone cannot prove it; the burden of proving the loan lies with the lender
• admissible evidence includes statements, correspondence and other written or electronic evidence, and the debtor's admission; the court assesses everything together
• a written demand and an acknowledgement of debt (interrupts the limitation period); the limitation period is three years
• the alternative route of unjust enrichment, and its limit if the recipient could consider the money a gift